shiso mama

With the purchase of our latest Craigslist find and the reorganization of my studio, Otis suddenly found himself without a place to draw. He still had his little chalkboard table, but because it was round with a hole in the center, it was not a good space for drawing with pen and paper. So we came up with our own little Ikea hack: a multi-purpose art table. For some reason, I prefer tables to easels for drawing, probably because easels make me think of paint and paint makes me think of Oh My Lord, There’s No Way Kids And Paint Mix In This House!

Here’s the list of supplies we used. Most of it was purchased at either Ikea or at the hardware store.

index curtain rod
index wall hardware
vika olegby table legs
vika persbo table top
magnetic bar (ours was black and named something different, which I can’t find on their website)

paint
unsanded grout
chalk
craft magnets
glue (I used a hot glue gun)
markers
roll of paper (we used Ikea’s Mala)

We used the Vika Persbo table top, but only because we already had it. I was using it as an ironing board, but since it didn’t fit into my new studio, I was looking for a new use for it. It’s quite large, which is good for us because kids can eat at the table when we have friends over rather than worrying about our new table. Any of the Vika table tops that are paintable can be used, and they’re pretty inexpensive. Of course you can also do this to any finished table as well.

Prime, paint and finish the table top according to these directions from Martha and crew. I gave my tabletop two good coats of paint, and chose a dark grey to go with our cabinets.

Turn the table over and install the index wall hardware, centered, along one short edge of the table, making sure that there is enough room between the hardware for your roll of paper. For our particular setup, we also had to make sure that the wall hardware didn’t get in the way of the table leg hardware. Thus I attached the wall hardware after the leg hardware, but before the leg itself. It might make more sense if you look closely at the following pictures.

Hang your roll of paper on the curtain rod and install in the hardware.

Turn the table over and install the magnetic bar, centering it on the table. Make sure it is tight enough to hold your paper down and to use as a tearing edge, but not too tight so that you can’t slide your paper through easily.

Glue craft magnets onto the caps of markers (I used a hot glue gun) so that the markers are attached to the magnetic bar, ready to be used.

Here you can see Otis using his new table (looking like he draws a lot more than he really does). He also occasionally attacks it with chalk:

Pretty simple. The most time-consuming part of the whole project was waiting for the paint to dry. Then you can hang your kids’ finished artwork up on your homasote bulletin board!

me: “gwong pi gu” (going bare bottomed)
Otis: “grrrrumpy!”

Get it?  It’s a bilingual joke!

Speaking of bilingualism, our friends at Z Recs are doing a special series on foreign language educational materials, and yours truly has done a guest post reviewing a Mandarin learning DVD here.  So if you’re in the market, or thinking about introducing a new language into your household,  check it out.  They’ve covered a lot of different materials.

“A sandbox for Otis? Oh, that’s easy project No, no, it won’t take long at all. Of course it’s not too much work!”

While our home received a total makeover, inside and out, the backyard remained pretty neglected, alternately buried under a thicket of weeds, or totally barren and dry. It’s taken us this long to start thinking about sprucing things and making it liveable back there. The studio was the first step. Next on our list was a sandbox and raised planter bed. I had this idea, see, that we would build two big 8′x4′ redwood frames - one for a sandbox, and one for vegetables. Then, when the sandbox was no longer being used, the sand could be taken out, and voila, more room for vegetables. I was pretty pleased with our clever, dual-function idea.

The boxes were constructed using these instructions. The raised bed we made 12″ tall. The sandbox we made 18″ deep so that we could bury it 6″ into the ground - that way, we could have at least 12″ of sand for Otis to play with. So the frames were constructed, stained and ready to go. Our across the street neighbor, Jonathan, even volunteered to help us dig the hole to bury the sandbox (not knowing what he was getting himself into). F and Jonathan started digging, and that’s when the trouble started. Here is what they found:

•  a concrete foundation reinforced with steel wire, with a corner post for a former structure still embedded
• a whole pane of shattered glass, still intact, along with all the shards from a giant glass jug
• large clumps of some mysterious, metallic paint which has made the dirt irridescent (it looks vaguely radioactive and is at the very least disturbing to look at)
• variously pieces of marine steel, from the WWII landing craft engines that the former owner was rebuilding in the yard
• an enormous redwood root that they eventually had to just chop off a section of and dig out as best they could

Here’s F holding the monstrosity (notice how he’s so covered with dirt that it looks like he’s dressed as a coal miner for Halloween):

Here I am, using it as a settee:

So a job that F initially thought would take a couple of hours took two strong (albeit approaching middle age) men most of a Saturday. But happily, Otis has been utterly thrilled with his sandbox, and has been playing in it a lot. (Although I will complain that every time he gets in there, he starts exclaiming, “Dirty! My feet are dirty!  Wash them!”) Now F’s in the process of digging out another huge section of the redwood root so we can get some vegetables into our planter.

I have to tell you that this backyard is totally defeating me. Every time we dig somewhere, we seem to find yet another unpleasant surprise (oh, a poured concrete former fish pond? a steel winch anchor? a brick path 4″ below ground level? pshaw.) Progress is so slow, and we still have no room to sit down and enjoy a meal or a drink. And there is just so much work to do yet before we even have a proper patio or real paths to walk on. And my dream of one day having an edible garden, with all kinds of fruit trees, bushes and vines, herbs and other edibles just feels really far away. Anyone have any advice for us?

Yes, we’re finally home. I must say that despite all the driving we did, this was the most relaxing vacation we’ve ever had as a family - probably because we didn’t fly far away to spend quality time with family. I was concerned about Otis sitting in the car for such long stretches, but he was a total champ, and we didn’t even have to break out the DVD player. We got to see even more friends in Portland than we had planned (I guess it IS as small as they claim it is), and our friends (whom I will remind you had twins 5 months ago!) were as relaxed and gracious a set of hosts as you could want. Great food, fantastic company and lots and lots of wine. What more could you ask for? Here are some highlights:

the park that rocked Otis’s universe: Jamison Park

It’s a water park full of crazed and happy toddlers, where kids are allowed to jump in whole hog. I had been warned to bring some extra clothes, but we were still a little inappropriately dressed the first day:

So of course we had to go back the next day, properly clad:

They’re pretty serious about their coffee in Portland, and it’s just heaven for addicts like us. From Stumptown to the farmers’ market at PSU, we drank and drank and drank.

We learned something during our trip: despite all evidence to the contrary, it IS possible to get sick of baked goods.

I guess it’s because we visited Voodoo Donuts, Saint Cupcake, St. Honore, Crema, Fressen and Ken’s Artisan Bakery. Huh, this list makes us look a little crazy, doesn’t it? Sadly, there were many more bakeries on our list that we never got to.

On our way back, we went to the Treesort, and it’s pretty cool. And perfect for a city lover like me who likes showers, plumbing and electricity. We tried to get Otis excited about the treehouses (I mean, we stayed in a teepee in a tree, for Pete’s sake!) but all Otis could think about was the horses. If you can suffer the bad tree puns that they’re so fond of, I would highly recommend this place for families. Look at this bridge (where I learned that I am afraid of heights after all):

We spent most of our time looking at the horses, sitting on the rocking horses or talking about horses. This, despite the fact that Otis got nipped in the head by one of the grumpier horses. Otis did get to feed the horses some carrots, though I’ll complain that the excitement did cause Otis to run towards the electrified fence repeatedly.

One last stop at the newly expanded Nut Tree (much fancier than in my day) and we were home.

If you haven’t had enough, come over to our house, and I’ll show you a very long slide show of the rest of our vacation. Fun! Extra points if anyone gets my movie reference in the title of the post.