Chicken Feeding Time

Thanks to a friend who shares her surplus, almost every week we are able to get grocery store cast-offs of bread and bakery items past there prime. I do as much as I can with the bread myself (making croutons, bread cubes for stuffing, bread crumbs, using in recipes or just plain eating) but what we can't use (or don't prefer to use) we give to the chickens.

Most of the time, when we do, all of the animals come out of the woodwork but today I had only one "helper".

This is Chester.

Chester doesn't mind getting crumbs all over him-or even the chickens pecking said crumbs off his back- if it means he gets a few nibbles himself.

I think bread-eating cats and dogs are funny. And I rather like the company.

Weekending

I don't know where this past week went really. I'd like to think I accomplished a lot, but I can't really name anything in particular except feed the children. do the dishes. change diapers. do laundry. homeschool. change clothes. That sort of thing.

Actually, "that sort of thing" makes a nice long list (and fills my days up very well) if I actually list it out-but that sort of list is not a very exciting one to make.

I do know every single room in this house seems to have a post-hurricane-esque feel to it. Which means, this weekend, however NOT fun it sounds, is going to be filled with cleaning and tidying-and especially-SORTING.

I don't like keeping things around just to make messes and post-holiday FLUFF always drives me crazy right around now. If it has been on the floor all week then I have a right (and daresay, RESPONSIBILITY??!?!) to toss it or set it aside for a yard sale.

I function SO much better in a tidy house.

I very much hope to squeeze in a few (winning) games of checkers, a couple quilled letters, unearthing my sewing machine, a walk or two and THE perfect Friday night: a bowl of popcorn and slightly melty ice cream after the children go to bed and the Mr. and I are snuggling on the couch watching a movie.

Any plans for your weekend?

Cream Shawl and Sontags

I have discovered I am much more a shawl girl than I am a sweater girl.

Sweaters always give me the itches. Not to mention, I am ALWAYS SO HOT when I go places that I get overheated wearing sweaters. (Which is good since all I have are sleeveless/shortsleeve dresses anyway.)

Not so with shawls! Shawls seem to me the perfect amount of warmth while still giving my arms breathing room.


What I *really* am in love with is something called a Sontag . It is a type of shawl that is made to wrap around you and tie (or button) in the back. I think they are so beautiful! And clever! And HANDY! Here are some I have found on Ravelry~ sadly, all knit.





As you can see, they are mostly made for Reenactments, which I don't do. But WHO CARES!?!?! I am completely comfortable starting new trends. Or even, NOT starting new trends and just wearing what I like. ;-)

I intended to make this shawl to tie all the way around me but it was feeling more like a blanket than a shawl so I stopped. Plus, I was getting a bit irritated by the need to go to the yarn store for "just one more skein." Sad.

But wait! Come to think of it~ I *could* just make ties on the corners and have one after all.....

What a DUH moment. (THAT was embarrassing!)

January in Review: A Resolutions Update

I promised a report at the end of each month as to how I am doing keeping up with my 2012 goals/resolutions and I intend to follow through with that so here I am, with Januarys' update. You don't care. You don't even remember. (Because, REALLY, who would?!) But your word is your word is your word. So here I am.

My 2012 goals are many, some are for the year but others are monthly and/or weekly~ among them, exercise 3 times a week, drink at least 60 oz. of water each day, read (specifically, in or about scripture) daily. These goals were really for the weekdays-not the weekends. Weekends are special in my book. Besides, ain't no way, no HOW I will be exercising in front of Matt.

Also~ each month I wanted to write at least one letter on the Sabbath and at least two letters, specifically, to my grandfather who is alone and would appreciate more than anyone, letters in the mail. I also wanted to tackle one house project per month and one homemade Christmas gift per month.

Here is a look at how I measured up in January:
(in red are the areas where I did not meet my goals)

(May I just say that public accountability is excruciating...but it is the excruciation that makes follow through terribly convincing to oneself.)

Exercise (3x per week): 17 times (totally exceeded my goal. YAY! And my waist measures 2 inches smaller too-though it doesn't feel it to me.)

Read (daily): every day. Scripture and/or Devotional

Drank 60 oz. of water: 23 times. I have now officially evolved backwards...into a fish. ;-)

Letter-writing: 17 letters (that includes thank-you notes from Christmas though so it isn't nearly as impressive as it sounds....)

Letters to Opa: 2

Financial Funds: Zilch

Did not have any money to set aside for savings or money to earmark for a car fund this month. I realized last year that by spreading payments (like auto insurance) out as a monthly payment not ONLY was I paying more in interest, but they were hitting me with a $5.00 INSTALLMENT fee-EACH month. Not cool. So I paid several bills for the whole year off once and for all, thus leaving nothing extra to be put away. It was worth it.


Homemade Christmas Gift Made: Homemade Vanilla Extract

It takes a few months (actually SIX, so if this is on your Christmas Gift List than be thinking about making a batch in the next few months! Don't know how? Here you go.)

House Project of the Month: Painted living room window, door and baseboard trim from brown to cream!

I started this project two weeks ago and stayed up way past my bedtime and had only gotten one half of the living room done. Last night when I was exhausted and had just folded 4 loads of laundry and watched everyone head upstairs to bed and all I wanted to do was follow them and sleep, I actually WOULD HAVE GONE WITH THEM had it not been for THIS post and you readers who, without knowing it-or even caring, were motivating me to finish it. Now, I can't be more happy that it is done and over with and that I took the extra time! So, thanks for that. ;-)


Family Reads: Finished three in the Narnia series: Prince Caspian, The Magicians Nephew, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (by audiobook-we listen while in the car which suits us well since it takes so long to GET to a store!) David and the Pheonix was started but not finished.

Scripture Memorization: Psalm 3. I couldn't recite it without a few peeks though. :-(

And of the yearly goals I accomplished:

Creating our Budget

February, I am ready for you!

Monday, Monday

(Country dogs have it SOooooooo good.)

(I got the most delicious Peppermint soap I have EVER SMELLED for Christmas this year. EVER. Judah thought so too.)

It is the start of a new week. It is the end of this first month of '12.
The sky is blue. We have peanut butter in the house.

Life is good.

Happy Weekend

Hope you spend it doing the things you love best with the people you love best.

xoxo

A Butterfly Life

When butterflies are not flying, they occasionally feed neighboring ponies bits of apple.

It's true.

A Winter Bonnet for Corynn

Blogging is always a good motivation...especially when you publicly admit to loony and slightly embarrassing flaws like project addiction.

And that motivation has resulted in a bunch of new FINISHED projects! (*cue applause*)

I plan to draw these projects out in order to squeak every last blog post I can get out of them. wink

For today though~ a winter bonnet for Corynn. I adore anything Elfin so immediately fell in love with the subtle, pointy tip of this hat which turns it very Elfin indeed.

Better still, it is simply a single-crocheted RECTANGLE measured individually ( from jawbone to jawbone) and then stitched up the back. Made with a chunky yarn (Cozy Wool), one skein was the EXACT amount I needed. Couldn't be simpler.

And Corynn L.O.V.E.S. it.

I made it last Friday and she has LITERALLY worn it every single day since~ all day long.

Inside, outside. Awake, in bed. At play, at church.

THAT is the sort of reaction that makes my heart happy and my project-lists multiply exponentially.

Speaking of Jeans and Fleece...

When did Little Miss stretch out? Her cute little stumps look like limbs now- I daresay she even looks a mite bit lanky in this picture!)

On Showing Off

If I were to give this year a word for a motto and my expectations for it a name, this years would be unquestionably and without hesitation....

Stewardship

I have been thinking a lot about stewardship these days, the good and the bad.

Perhaps it is because I look around at this new-to-us old, neglected fixer upper we just made our Home~ I see a barn littered with years of once-good-stuff turned into garbage-heaps that we are going to need to clean up; of wrinkled Encyclopedias, kitchen chairs, shoes, tools, egg cartons, lights. I see a barn that is in such disrepair I pray it doesn't fall down before we can safely pull it down. Much of this year is going to be cleaning up after another persons poor stewardship. It is easy for a soul to be pricked under these circumstances.

Maybe it is because I am flipping pages in catalogs and books and my mind as I plan, prepare and dream a new garden into reality and I think 'bigger! Bigger! BIGGER!' and then remember those summer squash I had to compost because they went bad before I could get to them~ the cucumbers that got "puky" or the pumpkins I MEANT to puree that ended up as chicken feed. It is shameful.

Whatever the reason, it just seems to be pressing on my heart. Really, stewardship is the kind of thing that you begin thinking about in droplet sized bits and then turn to find the whole bucket is full to the brim.


Stewardship is universal~ Good stewardship is required of each and every one of us, whether we are given little or much~ we are all called to it, without exception.

And it isn't just about money.

It IS about money. But is it also about time. It is also about that garden that needs weeding, the animals that need to be cared for, our widening bodies that need exercise, the fridge and pantry that need to well stocked, the dinner plates that need filled three times a day, the barn that needs painting, the rose bush that needs pruning, the children that need raising, the mind that needs sharpening, that living room that needs tidying, those dishes that need washing, the shelves that need dusting, the games that need playing, the yard that needs mowing...

Stewardship is about proclaiming Gods goodness by caring for His gifts.... and each of us, from the least to the greatest, are called to do it well.

If we don't do it well we are not only wasteful with His grace, but unthankful for those responsibilities and blessings that God has given us. Worse yet, we disgrace His name by smudging the character of God with our filth. After all, we are to reflect His attributes and I am pretty sure His attributes do not include crusty, dilapidated, filthy or uncared for.

Does a child with torn up clothes and a dirty face at the grocery store get your heart all a'flutter? Does garbage blowing across a yard make you long for a Home place? Does a stinky, nasty bathroom provide comfort?

A dirty, disgusting barn or a cluttered, messy home doesn't declare God's glory anymore than a dinner of SPAM and tatertots does.


He has made us~ His people, RICH (even us poor ones) and we ought to be showing people just how rich we are.

To show off?
YES! To SHOW OFF!

To show off the ABUNDANCE of GOD.

In doing so, we are revealing Gods character to innocent passers-by.

But to do this properly, we must have something WORTHWHILE to show. It isn't some gnostic ideal that draws people to God. It isn't even some spiritual place that a person sees and wants for himself. Maybe it is at times, but sometimes it is even more simple than that.

Sometimes it is in those paint- flecked hands painting the window panes.
Sometimes it is in that row of lilies you planted along the lane.
Sometimes it is in the wearing the pretty dress instead of the fleece pullover and jeans.
Sometimes it is on the plate of delicious food with that pretty little garnish on the side.

Oftentimes it is the outworking of our fingertips that reveal Gods character to those who need to see.

Might my fingertips be plenty busy this coming year.

Delicata

Dinner the other night~ Delicata Bisque with homemade croutons (a touch burned) and Parmesan crisps. It was dark out, the lighting was terrible and for a split second I thought about waiting until the next day to take its' picture then wisely, took a picture anyway; the pot was scraped clean by the end of supper. Everyone lamented having so few Parmesan crisps and even the burnt croutons bits (the burnt side of the crouton that I cut off) were eaten up.

One glorious virtue of winter is a steaming bowl of SOUP.

I used the last of my garden Delicatas, now properly peach and orange with age instead of yellow and green as in summer. I lament that fact now more than ever, knowing I can't make this soup again.

A wet sponge

All week I have been feeling crummy, but the last three days have been just downright debilitating. My head. It hoits.

It finally occurred to me that all the signs point to a sinus infection. (Took me long enough.)

I've been pretty worthless during the days, not getting off the couch unless I must~ even sleeping during naptime (not something I do during my coveted free time)~and I hate being this lazy.

I would really, really like to kick this on my own, without hauling a bunch of kids to a doctors office. Anyone know anything I don't?

This morning I drank some apple cider vinegar. (Now you KNOW I am serious...)

Jolly Reminder #496

In case you buy store bought eggs...THIS is the color the yoke SHOULD be.

FLUORESCENT orange.

If your egg bread doesn't GLOW, you have problems.