Yard Makeover

This week I had the pleasure of helping a friend rehab some very overgrown bushes in her yard. It was a sweet time of visiting, working, and laughing as we took turns falling into bushes and piles of debris. We also enjoyed getting some hands-on experience in the art of pruning while discussing recent church sermons regarding how the Lord prunes each of us for our own good so we can be healthier and more productive. I’m so thankful for my friend who never fails to challenge and encourage me whenever we spend time together… whether it’s a peaceful family dinner or an exhilarating pruning session!

Before and after...

My how they've grown!

First day of school last year...

and this year...

Back to School

Or, more accurately, back to the table. Being homeschoolers, we have the joy and privilege to journey through education together… and believe me, some days I learn more than the kids do! It also means that we get to do “school work” year round, giving us a more flexible schedule overall. That said, this week we got back into the more structured swing of things in preparation for the official school year as well as in anticipation of starting back up with the outreach program through our local school, where the kids get to go once a week to their own “homeschoolers only” campus to take classes like Pottery, Spelling Bee, Irish Dance, and Leatherworks. More on the excitement of that day later.

About half of the day today was spent on arranging school “spaces”, and the other half on… taking them down. Well, not really, but it’s hard for this mom to curb such enthusiasm about customizing one’s space when I spent a whole day on my F.A.M.I.L.Y. project. We also discussed other joys of homeschooling, such as having company on the chair next to you. Can you imagine the chaos in a classroom if every kid brought a blanket and a kittie? Yeeps!

F.A.M.I.L.Y.

The ceiling above our dining room table is still lacking a light fixture. I look forward to finding a good candidate for a painted and fabric wrapped treatment, but until then, I’ve come up with a cute solution that can be easily adapted to any sort of sentiment you’d like to have “hanging” around your house.

First, I picked up some of the paper mache letters found at your friendly craft store, but then realized that they didn’t have any ‘A’s. Hmmm... maybe there was a rash of Kindergarten teachers buying up 'A's for the first lesson of the school year? Not to be discouraged, I opted for a more mix and match look by replacing the A and the L with wooden ones about the same size, but a totally different font style. While at the craft store, I also grabbed a prepackaged stack of scrapbook paper (instant color coordination, plus it was on clearance!), and some decoupage medium (like Mod Podge, or you can make your own).

Once home I ripped up some pages of paper, deciding to stick with one color scheme for each letter, and solid black for the wooden ones (thank you for spray paint!). Then it was time to glue! This makes a great activity for multitasking, as it’s a bit tedious and requires little intelligent thought. :p Catch up on some phone calls, your favorite TV show, or better yet, grab a friend and do it together! When you’re done, they should look something like this:

Then, hang them from the ceiling, or put them on a wall, or a windowsill, or a mantle, gosh, the possibilities are endless! I used fishing line and thumbtacks to hang them above the table, where they dance in the breeze delightfully, and when I finally find the perfect candidate for that fabric wrapped chandy project, I’ll just find somewhere new for my FAMILY to live… my paper mache one that is.

Horses

The next best thing (according to my girls) to owning horses, is having good friends who own horses. Of course, my husband prefers the latter as there is no hay to buy, corrals to build, or whining about whose turn it is to muck out the stall. We have been very blessed to have good friends who not only own a few horses, but who have raised two amazingly sweet daughters that love to indulge our children’s love of everything “horse-y”.

Recently, while we were all “gettin’ our cowboy on” around our friends’ corral, I was struck by just how much the girls had grown. Not mine so much as our friends’ daughters. One just graduated from high school and the other is hot on her heels. What really got me, though, is that we met these girls when they were about my oldest daughter’s age, and now here they are, on the cusp of adulthood. It made me wonder who we are befriending now that will be present in the lives of our children when they’re that age. What toddler friends do we have that will be climbing all over my kids later, like mine do with our friends’ girls? Am I teaching my children to be patient, encouraging, and inquisitive, so that they can teach those traits to the younger ones later? I hope we haven’t lost our sense of urgency when it comes to raising Godly children who see everyone around them as precious and cherished in the sight of our glorious Heavenly Father!

Roller Coasters

Well, they say that children are willing to try anything… apparently, that includes roller coasters! We took a family outing to our “local” theme park and I was amazed at my kids’ willingness to try every single ride, waterslide, and crazy food item available. When dad and the two older ones decided to try one of the really big roller coasters, I thought the 6yo might have finally reached her limit. Apparently not. That’s right, my sweet baby rode a grown-up roller coaster that actually spends part of its time UNDERGROUND! Being the good mom, I declined to accompany them so as to document such an important occasion. Otherwise, I would have gone… really.

The amount of trust my baby girl had in her daddy to keep her safe, and the way that she was willing to try something so full of unknowns for her, made me think of the way we’re instructed to come to Christ as children, with childlike faith. Too often we let life experiences destroy our ability to trust and our willingness to try something unknown. It makes me wonder just how much we miss out on because we’re too proud to act like a child.

Go do something today… something scary and unfamiliar, and do it with the complete faith of a child.

Painting Metal?

Recently, I saw a very cute project done with a plain metal serving tray and some spray paint. I had never attempted spray painting on metal and it intrigued me. Wouldn't you know it, the next time I was at the thrift store I found this little darlin' peeking out at me from the bottom shelf.

Once home, I had to decide what color... I narrowed it down to two. Finally decided on the Caribbean Blue, and sprayed my little heart out (after sanding the tray lightly of course). Here's the finished project, working quite nicely for a simple flower display when it's not being used for one of the many tea parties around here.

Project Update!

I've been working on several crafty projects lately and managed to complete a few.

First is my inaugural attempt at making a totebag out of purchased placemats...

The best part? The placemats were on clearance for about $1 each and the handles are made from the leftover pieces of my dog's leash after she got done chewing her way through it. So it was cheap and the handles are fantastically sturdy!

Then I took a little of these:

And made this for a dear friend's new baby girl...

My next project is also a baby gift. It seems to be the season around here! Here in the Northwest it typically goes like this about 9 months after hunting season. Call us old fashioned... something about having your man gone in the woods for a week... I don't know. ; )

Aaaahhh...

Almost a month later and I'm finally starting to feel settled! Of course I still haven't found the iron or my B vitamins, but all in all the unpacking process has only been slightly more frustrating than the packing process. : p

The one thing we didn't count on was the extreme disarray in the office/craft room. See, our other home had a ton of fabulous built-ins and we no longer have those so we're making do with one tiny desk and one file cabinet. Fortunately yard sale season is almost here (not holding my breath though as it snowed 4 inches here a week ago!) so I can find a cast off dining room table of some sort to use as a two sided desk with some extra workspace. Oooo, this would make a good before and after post, ya think? : )

I have to say though, that the blessings of being in our country home FAR outweigh any packing/unpacking blues. It's been such a joy to see the kids riding their bicycles along our 1/4 mile driveway without having to hover out there because there might be cars or pedestrians, or strange dogs, or what have you. Not to mention the fact that we can now actually do a unit study on stars and the night sky because we can actually see it! The quiet is absolutely lovely, as are the birds, coyotes, distant neighbors, etc. My thanks to a mighty God that provides such wonderful things to enjoy!!

Whew!

Coming out from behind all the boxes just for a moment to say that my opinion of packing has not changed. Nope... not one bit. Don't get me wrong, I am excited beyond belief to be moving into our home in the country finally, I just wish it didn't require packing. Sigh... the amazing thing is that we've moved twice before and I still haven't managed to pare down much. I'm constantly getting rid of stuff, but more just seems to seep in under the cracks in the doors. : ) Of course it's all "useful" stuff designated for homeschool projects, crafting ideas, or some other task. So my question then is... why am I having to pack it all??? Shouldn't it have all gotten used by now? I'm beginning to understand the resistance many folks have later in life to leaving the home they've always lived in. What an ordeal... sheesh!!

All that said... can I just say how thrilled I am at the idea of being out in the country again?? No more nervous monitoring of the kids while they ride bikes in the alley or play in the front yard. No more shushing them for the neighbor's sake when we're out gardening and they're spraying each other with the hose and squealing at 7am on a Saturday. Oooo, and my favorite part at the moment? We get to have chickens!!! Has anyone checked the price of eggs lately?? Yikes! So, bring on your good chickening tips!

Well, back to packing!!

Bread, bread, everywhere!

Well, yesterday I made some Strawberry Rolls to take to our monthly mom's get together and my kids were hoping for leftovers, but alas, they got scarfed down lickety split. So, I assured the kids (Curlylocks especially) that we would make replacement rolls today. This began this morning with cinnamon roll dough being mixed up. Somehow it snowballed (breadballed?) into homemade soft pretzles and bagels as well. I was shocked at just how easy it was to make homemade bagels. Lots of little steps, but it actually kind of fits nicely with homeschooling life. Work a little, knead a little, work a little, shape the bagels, work a little, etc.

The recipes for bagels and pretzles I found at www.thefreshloaf.com. I saw this link on a blog here the other day (I'm so sorry, I don't remember who posted it... it was in a comment), checked it out because I love baking bread, and was thrilled at the tutorials there for things I've always deemed too difficult to try myself (bagels and pretzles being at the top of that list).

I am so excited because I've been trying to make more things from scratch lately that seem to cost a ridiculous amount at the grocery store, especially considering what they're made of. Some examples... Refried Beans, Salad Dressing, Bread products, and Popcorn. These things are so easy to make from scratch, yet cost sooooo much at the store. Well, I'm on to 'em!! If you too are looking for simple recipes for these types of items, stay tuned... I'll post some of my new tried and true faves soon.

Mmmm... I smell bagels almost done... gotta run!

Oh!! But I found a fabulous post on a friend's blog about Invisible Mothers!! You must go now and read it! It will change your entire mood!!

Menu Monday

Skating in under the wire with this one, but at least it's still Monday! :) The good news is that you get an immediate review of the first recipe! Lovely!

Sunday -- Out to lunch and popcorn for dinner
Monday -- Mini Canneloni Bake with dinner rolls (this was good, but I'd amend the recipe to just one box of chopped spinach, 1lb of ground beef, and double the white sauce)
Tuesday -- Nachos (with leftover taco fixin's from last week)
Wednesday -- Fajitas
Thursday -- Potato Soup in the crockpot, some sort of fancy Valentine's dessert... any ideas??
Friday -- Homemade Pizza
Saturday -- Leftovers

My Birthday!

Wow! I can't believe that's it's my birthday already. The entire youth group sang to me last night and of course lots of church friends made a point of calling me "old lady". I guess because I'm finally 30 and most of them have known me since I was 19 and getting married. Most women can't seem to stand big birthdays, but this one feels good to me. I guess "twenty-something" always sounds so young when you've got three kids and the oldest is 9.

Plus... I think we earn our birthdays. I can't imagine ever lying about my age. First of all, you just eventually end up looking like a really OLD 29 (or whatever age you're pretending to be), second, no one ever really believes you, and third, I think lying about your age is like discounting everything that God has done in your life that year. I am thankful for all the years He has given me and what He has accomplished in me -- why would I want to take that away??

Just some reflective birthday thoughts... :)

Menu Monday

Well, here I am late again with my menu plan... but at least I've stuck to it so far! : )

Sunday -- Roast, Veggies, Salad and Garlic Bread (this roast was sooooo good!! I'll be using the rub again for sure!)
Monday -- Fish Sticks, Froz. Veggies, Cornbread Stuffing and Salad
Tuesday -- Swedish Meatballs over Egg Noodles and Salad
Wednesday -- Beef Barley Soup (with leftover roast)
Thursday -- Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with leftover soup
Friday -- Homemade Pizza
Saturday -- Tacos

Yes indeed... it looks like I'll be having grilled cheese sandwiches for my birthday dinner. ;p We don't have plans for anything fancy because building a house is *expensive*, plus the best birthday present ever!! We're hopefully about 4-6 weeks away from being done and then I can really start going crazy with garden planning and chicken coop building!

Well, if it won't stop...

We figured we might as well come up with something creative to do with all the snow since it won't stop falling. This is what we came up with...
Hope you're enjoying the weather wherever you are! : )

Will it ever stop?

It's been snowing here for days it seems. In reality, we got 12" in 24 hrs and it's been snowing off and on ever since. This makes things a little tough out at the future homestead site...

We're running out of room to put the snow, especially along the 1/4 mile driveway. If it doesn't stop soon, we won't be homesteading until summer! =O

The kids are so excited they can barely contain themselves, though. All they see is the fabulous sledding hills!

Menu Monday

Well, this should actually be called Menu Tuesday, since I'm a day behind, but here it is anyway...

Monday -- finally made that Lemon Chicken with homemade Egg Rolls, yum-o!!
Tuesday -- Baked Potato Bar
Wednesday -- Leftovers before church
Thursday -- Date Night with hubby (kids will be at Grammy's for a week)
Friday -- probably Date Night leftovers... who can eat all the food they give you at restaurants these days?

Looking for a project...

With the bonnet's done, I'm eyeballing some yarn that I picked up the last time my mom was in town. It's soft, lucious, and warm. But... what to do with it?? I'm thinking of some sort of shawl, but don't know whether to knit or crochet it, use both yarns at simultaneously, or work some sort of color pattern.

Lest you think that I've found the Fountain of Time (who really cares about the Fountain of Youth?), this is to keep my hands busy while listening to audio Bible and books for my quiet time in the morning. I hear things much better if my hands are busy, and stumbled across this method of working/listening a while ago. Very Shaker-like: Hands to Work, Hearts to God.

Plus there's something special about having things around the house that I've made while listening to Bible teaching, all I have to do is look at a piece and all the memories of what I learned while working on it come flooding back. I suppose it's kind of like having my kids draw pictures while listening to the books I read aloud for school. When they tell me about the picture, the story we were reading is all woven in, even if the picture wasn't directly from the story. The complexity of the mind is truly a mystery!! Glory to God!

Bonnet Tutorial

We're in the middle of the Prairie Primer for school this year. If you've never heard of it, it's a unit study-type curriculum based on all of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Well, my girls have been aching for their own bonnets. My search for some sort of free pattern online was mostly fruitless, and so I got the crazy idea that if I figured out how to make them on my own I could do a tutorial. So, you're all my guinea pigs. Let me know if I missed anything, if anything's unclear, or just what you think...

Step One:
Cut out one crown piece (7"x14" rounded, with long side on the fold), two brim pieces (3.5"x9" rounded, with short side on fold), and two brim pieces of interfacing cut the same as the brim pieces (med weight works fine). Note: The photo of interfacing shows them unfolded.

Step Two:
Iron your interfacing to your brim pieces

Step Three:
Stich brim, right sides together, leaving long straight edge open. Clip the corners, then turn brim right side out and iron 1/4" to 1/2" hem to the inside of the long open edge. This will to be to sandwich the gathered crown edge in before topstitching later. Note: It's a bit stiff at this point so you may have to pin the ironed hem while it cools to hold it in place.

Step Four:
Unfold crown and stich hem on the bottom (neck hem). If you want to put a neck piece on to shade the neck, do that instead.

Step Five:
Baste the unhemmed edges of crown. Your basting should go from one end of the neck hem up and around the curve and back down to the other end of the neck hem. Pull basting so that the circumference of the crown equals the length of the brim. The photo shows how to check that measurement with both items folded in half.

Step Six:

Once you've got your basting pulled to the correct length, tie off the ends (I use slipknots) so it doesn't scoot. Note: In this photo you can see the finished neck hem from Step Four.

Step Seven:

Pin brim to crown, sandwiching the gathered crown edge between your ironed brim hem. You will use lots of pins to hold it in place. It should look something like this when you're done...

Step Eight:

Sew along the brim where it meets the crown. Not too close or you'll lose the brim piece underneath in places. I stitch from the top because that's the part you'll see when you're done.

Step Nine:

Add strings for tying. These can be fabric, ribbon, or whatever works for you. I handstitched some grosgrain ribbon on this one because it's faster than the machine work. It turned out like this:

Plus, I don't know if you can see it in that photo, but I added some elastic in the back of the neck so it wasn't so gappy, like this:

Well, that's it. How did I do? Did I miss anything or explain something poorly? It sure was easy to make, and now my other daughter is clamoring for her own, so I should go start on that one.

Garden Planning

With our move-in date closing in I am confronted with two things. Packing and garden planning. Since I can't stand thinking about the former, lets talk about garden planning shall we? Here is a photo of the most reasonable garden plot near the house. If you can see that stick in the middle of the photo, that's the back line of our property. You can't see the house, but it's under construction off to the right side and a little behind me.

So, as you can see, I'm starting from absolute scratch. Except for the assumption that this was once pasture land back in the 70s, it hasn't been touched since. It'll obviously need some amending, and raised beds with row covers will probably be the most practical as we get a fair amount of wind through our place.

Garden planning is so much fun, but I am known by my family as one who dreams big and gets overwhelmed, so I'm thinking of sticking to a "tomato sauce" garden my first year. I figure if I can put up enough tomato sauce to last us the year it'll save us at least $15/month. So, I'm planning on 20-25 tomato plants, a row of bell peppers, and lots of basil. Anything else will be extra. So, who has lots of gardening experience that could offer wisdom on tomatoes and such? My family always did lots of gardening while I was growing up, but it's been a while since I gardened for anything other than fun. Who has tried and true tomato varieties? Favorite tomato sauce canning methods? Lemme have 'em!!