E-thew

Yesterday, the littles got a wee bit infatuated with the fact that 'big kids lose teeth out of their heads'. 

Andrew very patiently let them investigate in his mouth at his chompers- the big ones, the little ones and the wobbly ones. 

Good brother.

Speaking of Andrew~ last night they were playing doctor and all the children were diseased or ailing in some way until Nurse Corynn came to the rescue.  As she cared for the broken nose of Judah and the plucked out eye and sore foot of Adele' (all imaginary, but no less painful), I heard Andrew pipe up...

"Corynn.  Pretend that I am a really old farmer and I am so sick because I have been smelling  manure for years and years."  

Everything in his life has to do with cows.  And I mean EVERYTHING.

*sigh*

Green

 

 

What a busy weekend we had! Lots of scurrying about, lots of cooking, lots of baking; lots of people, coming and going, lots of forking hay on the garden and planning too many things in too little spaces of time and all the while, praying for just a little bit longer to get everything done.

 I know how amazing it is to have no-coat days in mid-November and I know it can't last forever, but how I *wish* it could. There is still so many outdoor things to do...finish haying all the gardens and beds, trimming and mulching the flower circle, bringing in the hammocks that hang limply and forlorn, and the table where we lingered long after summer suppers. Coldness creeps ever closer and I know, when it comes, I will hibernate until it is over and my fingertips thaw.

Over the weekend the winds howled fiercely on the hill- so much so that it carried our phone line off of the house where it still drapes upon the ground , waiting for a repairman to string it back up. As it whipped the southern side of the house we sat inside, wondering at how snug we were despite the cold winds blowing, how wonderfully these new windows work! We didn't feel even the slightest breeze which is a far cry from what it was last year.

In the small, quiet spaces amidst the flurry of doing, a cinnamon candle was lit, an envelope left us stunned and speechless and shaking our heads in wonder, I set aside the knitting needles and picked up a hook (and realized just how much faster crochet is than knitting!), leftover apple crisp was spooned over vanilla yogurt and called 'breakfast' instead of dessert, I fell asleep with Matt rubbing the soreness from my aching head (bliss) and the first of the handmade Christmas gifts was completed.

The very best kind of weekend. 

(The scarf is a free crochet pattern and can be found here.) 

The -online- Old Schoolhouse Magazine (a review)

This review is a sample review for the Schoolhouse Review crew, which is a small part of TheOldSchoolhouse.com.  I thought I would take a minute to check out the online version of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.  Specifically, the November/December issue.  I've heard of the magazine before, but never really took the time to check it out.  If you have any electronic toys, you can read the magazine on Kindle, Androids, Nooks and iphones but little 'ole me will have to check 'em out on my nice, bulky, dinosaur of a computer.  ;-)

I am not typically a magazine girl because I dislike clutter and I don't like magazine piles laying around.  (Why is it that once they are in the house it is really hard to throw them away?!?)  But an ONLINE magazine means NO CLUTTER...so.... score!

 The Old Schoolhouse magazine covers several different approaches to home education and it covers a wide spectrum of ages and grades and learning styles.  There are articles about preoccupying the youngest of the bunch while older children do school to sending your children off to college, offering encouragement to parents of children with special needs and to parents of children who are gifted.  There is truly something for everyone.  Best of all, the magazine approaches home education with an unapologetically Christian worldview. 

There were plenty of articles on frugality (and you know how right up my alley that is!) like using the library and other community resources (ahem.  Totally do that), The Little House Legacy of Christmas (yes! we love Little House!), and several interesting articles on the teaching of art and artists and composers.  Needless to say, I found the magazine incredibly informative and incredibly suited to my own personal interests!  Here I thought I was on my own little island~ who knew?!

I could really relate to the article A Truly Wonderful Time by Beth Foster.  She spoke of the tradition of hand-making gifts for Christmas and of little people conspiring together to bring about great surprises.  Not only is it a beautiful thing to hear the giggles and feel the air thick with anticipation, but, when giving hand-made gifts~ children are taught the fruits of the spirit and their thoughts and time and efforts have become part of the gift as well.  She spoke of the gift of PEACE during the holidays and offered suggestions at how actually FEEL at peace during the holidays, something many people seem to struggle with.  Myself included. (Of course, her gift making started back in October...and mine started last week.  THAT could be a clue.)

I found an excellent article on teaching perspective in art.  The author shows how easily and unintimidating it can be to teach perspective while showing stunning art from the likes of DaVinci and Caillebotte to expand the readers' understanding.  Enjoying and exploring art is easy to teach, learning about artists is simple to do- but TEACHING ART (the methods and means and science of it) does not come naturally to me.  I look forward to implementing some of her suggestions in our art projects this year. 

One thing I really appreciated about this magazine is their emphasis on knowing the laws on education, your rights as homeschooling parents and the historicity of those rights.  There are four articles on issues pertaining to these important aspects of education in this single issue!  It is extremely important, as homeschooling parents, to be aware of our rights and liberties to educate our children and how those rights are being played out today.

This magazine is not only an encouragement to homeschooling families- but a wealth of knowledge too.  Kindof like a homeschooling teacher for the homeschooling teacher.  :-)

Besides the fact that it doesn't find its way to the bathroom floor, you know what else is great about an online magazine?  You can click the link to the actual article you want to read in the table of contents and it takes you right there- instead of looking through an entire magazine to find what you are looking for.  Rocket speed!  That was a pretty great time saver.

If you like~ check it out. It's free, it's easy to navigate and hey, you might just learn something!  ;-)

Finances on Friday

Something I've been considering this week: 

Some of my financial efforts this week:

* The "bucket situation" that I spoke of previously turned out  not-quite-as-expected. Walmart people said they would hold 10 buckets for me but called when there were only six and told me to pick them up.  I drove out there to discover that three of those had no LIDS (which kinda defeats the purpose of storage, wouldn't you say?!?)  Plus- they had attitudes. The people, not the buckets. Frustrated, I ended up buying the three that were worthwhile for a dollar a piece.  I almost went over to Lowes and bought the brand new ones right then, but I decided to at least TRY to get some at Price Chopper since they said they did give them away for free, if they had them.  Even one or two would help.  I popped in on the way home from church, so I didn't make a special trip out (and burn more gas).  Turns out- they had PLENTY and gave me all that I needed.  For free.  And with smiles.  SO....awesome.  I'll know where to go if ever I need more.

* While out at the "Walmart Bucket Trip", I dropped off more clothes at the consignment shop and picked up the $52.00 I had earned there!  (Which will be going in the furniture fund.)

* harvested lots of collards from the garden

Harvesting collards (that much more in the garden still needing to be harvested.)

* picked up eight roundbales of old hay for our garden.  The farmer down the road gave them to us for free.  (I'll  bake him a pan of cinnamon rolls as thanks.)

* made two handmade baby gifts using yarn I already had

* went to a Putnam Publishing warehouse sale in which brand new books are drastically lowered...all books are $1, $2, $3, $4 or $5 at most.  I spent WAY too much money there ($78.00.  For shame!) but got a ton of brand new, beautiful books.  I felt so badly about spending that much money that I added up all the book prices (on the covers).  The cost, had I bought them at regular price would have been $501.97 (not including tax).  Many of the books will be gifts, some are for homeschooling, and some are for homesteading/herbal resources.  I even got two DK educational videos on Weather and Rocks and Minerals.  I may try to resell two or three  in order to lessen my guilt.

The garlic cloves I planted were homegrown by some friends of mine.  They were absolutely enormous~ the clove on the right is a large size clove.  That is how monstrous it was.  Seriously insane.

* planted garlic. 60 cloves to be exact.  I don't know if this is too much or too little-my inclinations are that it will just scratch the surface of our garlic needs...but it is 60 more cloves than I have ever grown before.  :-)  And I can always grow more in spring.  The garlic I planted was given to me by a friend so there was no initial investment cost.  :-)

* Took our family pictures myself (for Christmas cards)

* cut all three boys' hair

Weekend plans include: 

 bringing in wood (unfortunately a weekly reality from now until about April), cleaning the house, company on Saturday, letters and packages to mail and handmade Christmas presents to start and crocheting in the crevices. You?

Have a great weekend!  

Nature Exchange

We recently participated in a nature exchange.  The object was to find 12 things during outside exploration that would fit inside an egg carton and then mail 'em off to some lucky participant;  that participant, then, mailing you their cool finds.  

 These were some of the things we sent:

Well- we got our carton in the mail the other day!  

Yippee!  Mail!  

Yippee!  Cool stuff!  

Yippee!  Science!

The children were especially impressed by the driftwood "mouse". 

 I was especially impressed with the amber!

Though, the hops that they grow to brew their own beer was right up there on the coolness factor too.

(Matt would be jealous.)

Our nature table is looking mighty fine these days!

Thank you J family- for the great exchange!  You made our day!!  

(And science a whole lot more interesting!)

(I knew that was coming.)

A spoonful of sugar

Over the weekend I tried to get a Christmas Card worthy family photo. My goal is always to get it done around, you know, September...when the weather is still nice. And reality is always, you know, when it is freezing cold outside. One year I wanted until like December 18th or something crazy like that. (stupid, stupid.)

Suffice it to say, my family made it about 10 minutes before giving up. I got a decent shot (notice "A" as in singular and "decent" as in not enviable) but the rest were in the dud category.  Corynn was a grouchy snowman, Adele' pulled a Marilyn moment, Judah snuck in his trusty pocketknife, Ruby photo-bombed and Andrew stood like a steadfast tin soldier. 

The duds, in my opinion, are also the most funny- so, because laughter is the best medicine... here you go.

Swallow up!

(I have to say I may go with the last one because Adele' is just the cutest thing in it...and everyone has REAL smiles which are better than fake ones any old day.)

This slideshow design generated with Smilebox

Golden Boy

I had a whole weekending post planned but guess what?  Time.  It slipped through my fingers AGAIN.

Instead you get three identical pictures of a the sweetest golden boy you ever.did.see. 

He makes pizza with me every Friday night.  Without fail.

OH- it's idyllic sounding, sure.  But the fact is- he makes A LOT more work than help.  And, given the teensy counter I have to work on making several large round pizzas- he takes up most of my needed space too. 

This past Friday I wisened up a bit and pulled a chunk of dough off and gave it to him to knead over at the table.  He added flour.  He kneaded.  He kneaded until it went from dry to sticky again.  He added more flour.  I didn't have much hope for it but at the end I figured- what the hey.  Let's let him make his own little loaf of bread.

Well, he was just the proudest little baker ever.  I cut all the little slices and he buttered them all and ran around giving them to people. 

That proud smile, bathed in the golden light of morning...makes a Mama's heart swoon. 

(And the bread wasn't half bad either!)

Finances on Friday

 I've been thinking on:

"If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is no poverty and no indifferent place." - Rainer Maria Rilke

 

Some financial efforts for the week:

* bought a clearance costume and a few clearance masks this week when I went to bring my Mom a meal after her surgery.  The princess costume was $5.00 and will be an Adele' birthday present later this month.  The masks were $3.00 each (I got two) and will be used for our homemade Renaissance Faire and as another gift.

* set aside four sandwich baggies full of Halloween candy to be used for stocking-stuffers at Christmas. (the children were none-the-wiser.)

* set aside all the trick or treat M&M bags of Halloween Candy to be used in trail mix when we don't have big bowls of candy at our disposal (though I don't anticipate THAT anytime soon)!  ;-)  (The children were none the wiser.  I am sneaky that way.)

Can you tell I am trying to get this candy out of my reach before I gain all the weight I lost back?!?  I am kind of freaking out.  Candy, Candy!  I want more candy!  (I am such a kid...I know.)

* went to a free knitting class at the library and borrowed over a dozen books for school.

* hung jeans, sweaters and other "thick" things on the clothesline and by the woodstove.  ( I am no longer hanging ALL my clothes on the line because it is too...brrrr..cold.)

* Matt called a man interested in buying old barn beams in hopes to make a few bucks AND clean up a bit more from the middle barn collapse.

* used a free Redbox code for a movie rental

* returned part of an order made last week for a refund because I ordered the wrong (more expensive thing!)  I replaced it with what I actually *needed* and got A $40+ REFUND.  Yay.  That excess money will go toward replacing our printer whenever I can get enough cash around to do so.

* I used another free shipping code for above transaction.  (This saved $6.00)

* Judah took a pair of scissors and completely massacred a library book during rest time, unbeknownst to me.  The fee was almost $30.00 to replace through the library system but my kind, wonderful, understanding librarian said I could replace the book myself since it was one of theirs~  I was able to buy a copy for $4.00 on Amazon. 

* roasted pumpkin seeds from our jack-o-lanterns

* roasted jack-o-lanterns after Halloween and made pumpkin puree (over 20 cups)

* harvested last four cabbages from garden

* canned last of our apple tree apples.  Wound up canning 20 quarts of applesauce this go-round, making a total of 58 quarts of applesauce for the year.  I also canned up 29 pints of apple butter.

* gratefully received a beautiful box of yarn and fabric from a blog reader who was cleaning out her craft room (Thanks Ulli!!)

* went to a .25 rummage sale (everything was a quarter) and got five or six things to resell at the consignment shop (including a full length wool coat), along with a set of queensize sheets for our bed and a pair of church pants for Andrew.

* picked up our bulk food order and paid for it in cash

* downloaded a free scripture song entitled "We Trust" by SeedsFamilyWorship.

Bullets Flying (and a million things)

 

 

 

 

* Today is Wednesday.  I have NO IDEA where the week went!  Not to mention- it is now November.  I have no idea where the YEAR went.

* Something funky happened to the scarf  I am knitting-but I am not sure what, or why, or how to fix it.  What's a girl to do then?  Well, I don't know about other girls but I know what *I* am going to do.  Ignore it!

* Tonight I am making sloppy joe for dinner.  I secretly (or not so secretly) add oatmeal to my sloppy joe to make it extend further (a nice little trick I learned from you Mrs. B!).

* Last night for dinner I made a dutch meal made of mashed beets and potatoes with bacon.  Along with it I served pickles and applesauce.  After we had nearly licked our plates clean I realized that the meal consisted solely upon things I had grown right down to the bacon (I found one lone package of bacon from our own pigs way at the bottom of the freezer when I cleaned it out a while back.)  I love it when that happens.

* I am going to try to overwinter the hibiscus tree I got for $6.00 this spring.  I brought it in when it got so cold and it thanked me with a gorgeous display of blooms.

* Yesterday I was taking a shower in the morning and THREE people had to come use the bathroom while I was in it.  Three.  (And no- I don't take crazy long showers.)  I hate having only one bathroom.

*  Judah used a sharpie on my coffee table this week.  The girls broke a stained glass lamp that I bought before I was married. The arm of our big chair is shredded.  The couches require you to strategically locate yourself so as not to fall into a hole.  (Made, probably, by bouncing children.)  The lid to the toybox hangs by a thread.  Oh yeah!  The light fixture globe in the kitchen shattered recently too-thanks to a broom-baring bear.  I am feeling pretty overwhelmed that everything in this house feels...junky.  I have decided to save up my consignment shop money to buy some new-to-us furniture.  Some day.  (Hopefully soon.)  Not sure what to do with the children who do the ruining though.

* My house is a wreck.  I am not sure how it got that way but I have to do something about it.  Yesterday I tackled the school room and mudroom.  But I REALLY need to tackle the Spare Oom because that is the worst.   Living in a disorderly, over-filled home makes me feel twitchy and makes my life feel chaotic.  SO- yeah.  That is on my short list of things to do.

But first....

* This afternoon I have got to finish canning the last of the apples from our trees.  Tomorrow I am picking up Crispins by the bushel for fresh eating through the winter.  The crispins are large and delicious...and will take up enough room without having the last remaining few buckets worth of small, ugly tree apples lying around.  It is going to be a busy night.

* Matt officially stopped shaving about two weeks ago and his face now sports an official BEARD.  Right now it is in the sexy stage.  Not far behind this stage is the "Middle-Aged Arab" stage which I am not looking forward to. (Needless to say.)

* Due to the above bullet, I must get our family pictures done SOON (for Christmas cards) before the next beard stage sets in.

* Speaking of hair... all the boys are desperate for haircuts.  Better not do that tonight though.  Applesauce.  Hair.  Ewwww.

* Can you tell I am feeling the strain of a never-ending TO-DO list?  Lots of things to do.  Things that should have been done yesterday.  Things that will need to be done tomorrow.  Things that will be needing to happen soon...

* I am continuing to work on my Christmas list... I am still in the writing the list phase and not in the actual MAKING things stage.  Which brings me full circle to where I began.  It is November already!
ACK.