Mi Familia Tiles

During the summer of 2007, I made mosaic tiles like the one in the above pic and sold them to raise funds for various charities. I'm thinking of making them again to help raise funds for www.ahomeihaiti.org. If you'd like one, please let me know--I can customize them with faces, color schemes, and favorite quotes or sayings.

Last thought for this post--a quote I read earlier in the week: We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out. —Ray Bradbury

May you know great beauty. All the time.

3/3 note: the tiles are 4X6" to 6X8" & $22 for 3 faces, $2 for ea addl face. They take about 3 weeks with firing, gazing re-firing & mastic. I'll chk 4 requests here, on FB, or at melissa.shaffer@muttlogic.com. Thx!

Sweetness

I have a friend who is posting a pic for everyday. She & her family live on gorgeous farmland and it's a thrill to see her capture the beauty of nature and family. She's inspired me to aim for similar: one pic or set of pics each week. This is the week following Valentine's Day, or as it's called in Latin America, "Dia del Amor y la Amistad" (Love and Friendship Day), thus the pics of Carter enjoying freshly sugar-sprinkled love and friendship cakes.

I would be remiss to not mention Haiti. May we send them love and friendship in tangible form. Waterproof shelter is desperately needed before the rainy season--10 days from now--and it can be sent via www.aHomeInHaiti.org (you can send them a tent or funds for one, and they'll get it into the hands of Haiti).

Home

Oh goodness, it took me forever to figure out how to set up the site (I have a wonderful, energetic toddler, so I was indeed a wee bit distracted) and now I need to put some words to the action. I hope to post something erudite from time to time, but for now I'll just admit that I'm not the most tech-advanced chica, although I am married to a software developer, so that should make up for it, yes?

Daily life seems to vacillate from moments where I want to pull my hair out (most recently because my little Picasso has redecorated the ottoman...in crayola) and moments of sheer bliss ("big hug, Mama"). BTW, I'm not as upset as maybe I should (?) be about the ottoman (and other parts of the house) because my inner quirky artsy side loves that he's expressing himself. But I don't want him to redecorate your living room if we visit! Boundaries...I'll work on that after I stop gazing at his exceptional use of color.

So much happens in the course of a day, often in the space of just a few rooms. That leads me to what prompted me to get off my duff about this long-postponed blog: I—have—a—house. A home. A place of shelter and love. Many don't. My mind and heart go straight to Haiti, experiencing the aftermath of "the most destructive natural disaster in modern history" (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gXTdasGtz0gate-5xW-V0Tmc6Ajg) and doing so in the face of the coming rainy season. Remarkably, even as a stay-at-home mama, I can make some bit of difference there. Today.

Last night I entered the brave new world (for me) of Twitter for the same reason. There are a number of NGO's that I feel confident in supporting, some big names, some small. Most recently, aHomeInHaiti.org, and the grass roots movement around it, has captured my time and attention. The plan is three-fold with the end result being safe and sturdy rebuilt communities, but the immediate aim is to send tents, waterproof, to those in Haiti (nearly 1 million) desperately needing them.

The rainy season starts in 11 days. For this reason, if you are reading, you might see 11 more blogs about the same thing. I apologize in advance, but I can't not talk about it. If you can, please send a little more love, preferably a waterproof tent, or donate to www.aHomeinHaiti.org (or to any other NGO's sending waterproof shelter, like The Salvation Army in Canada). You can even donate your time, as it's largely a Twitter, FB & blog movement.

Meanwhile, from the comfort of my home, for which I am so thankful, I promise to throw in some humorous moments...my son is dedicated to the later cause.