I am a huge fan of Jane Brocket. I love her books, her blog, and always turn to The Gentle Art of Domesticity when I feel I need a boost in inspiration. I am about halfway through Ripping Things to Do, and really enjoying it.
A couple of weeks ago, after the boys learned that invisible ink was used in the early history of America to pass messages back and forth, I pulled out the lemon juice, paper, some q-tips and a candle. I learned how to make and use invisible ink in Jane’s book and the boys thought I was the coolest mom ever when I showed them how to write secret messages (thanks, Jane!)
The boys used q-tips to write messages in lemon juice, and left them to dry on the table.
After their papers were completely dry, they took turns holding the paper very carefully over a candle (always supervised by me). Jane suggests using an iron, but my boys aren’t quite tall enough to do that safely.
They were so excited, and it was a fun new skill for us all. You never know when you will need to write a secret message.
books, family, homeschooling, kid's art • Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 • 4 Comments »
A couple of weeks ago, a small hole turned into a giant tear in my daughter’s sheet. Instead of mending it, I decided to save it to use for other projects. I figured I would use some of it to make summer pj’s for the girls. These past two weeks have been filled with runny noses, and the three boxes of kleenex in the closet ( they were given to us this past summer) had finally run out.
Normally we use hankies, but I just don’t have enough to deal with this kind of onslaught. So what do you do when you have four little noses that have decided they are running a marathon and you need a massive amount of hankies fast?
You take your trusty rotary cutter and cut the torn sheet into strips, then squares.
Then you toss them all in a 25 cent thrift store basket and call it a day. I made each hankie 5" square so it’s perfect for one big nose blow. I only used about half of the sheet and got 160 hankies out of it, so let’s just hope that lasts the day.
On a side note, we took the babe in yesterday as her cough had gotten worse. The doctor said that for lack of a better term he was diagnosing her with bronchitis. She is now on antibiotics, and holding steady.
green, home • Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 • 14 Comments »
Well, instead of this last two weeks being filled with projects around the home, decluttering, and general family merriment, it was spent nursing four sick little ones to health. Unfortunately we have not turned round the corner just yet. My kids haven’t been this ill for years, if ever, for some of them. They are holding up pretty well, but it’s not pretty. Lots of really runny noses, not to mention they all sound like barking seals, with this nasty cough.
These daffodils (20 of them for less than $3) in my blue stripey jug have been cheering me up on the kitchen table. This winter has been dreadfully long and I am so ready for spring. A little bit of sunshine in a jug has really helped.
Now the babe has acquired the lovely cough, so it is off to the doctors again as there is nothing over the counter that you can give to a child so young. This ickiness has caused the boys to miss the last two weeks of their swimming lessons, which is very disappointing to them, not to mention we had a birthday boy in midst of all of this. We will be doing a fun day trip for all as soon as everyone is better, in honour of his birthday.
Here is another little bit of springy goodness, a vintage sheet for my daughter’s bed. Bright orange and yellow flowers have really cheered her room up, and she loves it, just what she needed in the midst of feeling so blah.
Well, my plan is to be back regularly now, but if I don’t show up one day, just know that I want to be here, but other duties call. Hope you all are feeling well, and had a nice restful weekend.
gardening, home, thrift store finds • Monday, March 8th, 2010 • 10 Comments »
Just a quick update here, unfortunately I’m going to need a little bit more time away. This cold that has been floating around our house has decided not to be nice at all and has turned into a particularly nasty little bug. All four kids have a cough, the boys being the worst. The babe is the healthiest one of all with only a minor little cough, and I put that down to the fact that she is still breastfeeding, what amazing powers breast milk has.
We spent the afternoon at the doctors office yesterday and came away with prescriptions for antibiotics for the three big kids. Now I am all for the non medical route of healing things when we are able to, but I do believe there is a time and a place for medicine. Our two middle children both have ear infections, our son with a double ear infection.
So today’s plans include lots of rest, staying in pj’s all day, and lots of yummy “sick” foods. I’ll make up some chicken noodle soup for lunch and the kids have requested fruit popsicles and our daughter really wants a grilled cheese. We’ll read lots of The Wishing Chair Collection by Enid Blyton, and throw in a movie later as it is family movie night.
The last two days have been absolutely glorious weather wise, in the fifties which is just what we needed. I was able to throw the windows open and get some fresh air circulating in here. Lo, and behold, when I woke up this morning I was greeted by another winter wonderland, snow everywhere and more coming down. Oh well, at least it’ll make it feel cozier snuggling up in blankets.
Thanks for being so patient while I’ve been taking this break. I was hoping to get a lot accomplished around the house, but the whole time has been spent taking care of my ill family. I’m hoping that they’ll turn a corner by next week, but I will pop in on Monday to give you another update.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and stay warm, and well.
family • Friday, March 5th, 2010 • 12 Comments »
Just popping in to let you know about my March projects. So far my time away from the blog has accomplished me absolutely nothing. We have all been struck by a nasty cold and apart from my head feeling like it’s going to explode for the last several days, I’ve got four snotty children, two of whom now have lovely coughs to go along with the nose running.
Ugh, anyway, I have higher plans for the rest of the week provided that recovery is speedy. At least we all came down with it at the same time, way better than it dragging on for a month because everyone gets sick one at a time.
So, first off, Mousy Brown and Rattling On have set up a String-a-Long 2010 challenge. I was so excited as I have been making fabric shopping bags forever, and always loved string bags, but had never made one myself.
I’ve got my yarn and hook ready and as soon as I can think straight without all the pressure in my sinuses, then I’ll be off. I’m using the Econo-Shopper Mesh Bag pattern for my first one, but I have plans to try out several different patterns over the course of the month.
As you can see from my yarn choice, I have opted for a more outlandish colour, just kidding. I can’t seem to get out of my kick of coordinating colours at the moment. I’m trying to have several in the same shades to look nice on a hook by the door, but I do intend to make some more fun coloured bags to have in the car.
Next, my March change for One Small Change. I’ve struggled to come up with what change we should work on, so I think this month it will be a combination of a few small things. We’ve gone to shopping less often, yay, so making some more string bags will help as I need more to hold the larger amount of groceries.
I also want to bring in some air cleansing plants into the house. Ever since I ditched the peace lily I haven’t had any plants that are good at purifying the air, so I want to get a few in the house. Lastly, the winter wind is starting to die down, so I am hopeful that by the end of the month we should be able to go back to line drying our laundry. Our house is too small for me to hang it inside during the winter months, there is literally no room to accommodate all that much laundry so I can’t wait to be able to get it back outside.
As far as February’s change went, it went really well. I did have to get rid of two onions as they were bad, but I am pretty sure that they were already bad when I got them as they were in the middle of a huge bag of onions that I bought and every other onion was fine. We were very careful about eating every last bite of everything that came into the house and had very little waste.
Well, I’m off again for the week. I’m hoping to be back towards the end of the week, but that will depend on how everybody is feeling. I’ll pop in for sure on Friday and let you know what’s going on. I hope everyone is having a great week, I’ll catch up with you guys later.
crochet, gardening, green, home, nature • Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 • 13 Comments »
I’ve been doing this little blog here for a while now and have truly loved it. This past week I have struggled with feeling uninspired and overwhelmed. I’m sure it has to do with being super busy and having a hugely long to do list that is just not getting done. I’m going to take a few days off here in this space and try to get things sorted out at home. I’m hoping this will free up the creative spot in my brain that is being crushed at the moment. I will miss you while I am gone, but I believe I will be able to come back more organized and calm and ready to go.
I plan on popping in next Tuesday and then being back in full force by the end of next week. I just need a little time to take care of my family, my home, the kids schooling and my tired brain. Thank you to everybody who stops by and especially to those who leave comments, I still have a hard time believing why anybody would take the time to come by, but I do appreciate it.
Have a wonderful week and I’ll see you next Tuesday.
family, home • Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 • 23 Comments »
Recently I won a little giveaway over at jennyflower, and it arrived yesterday. Look at all those goodies. I knew about the book and the card, isn’t it gorgeous? I will have lots of fun going through the book and trying my hand at ribbon embroidery, and look at the extras.
My two girls love the hair pretties. The babe grabbed them all in her chubby little hands and started patting her head (what she does when she wants something in her hair). They are all hand crocheted or stitched and they are gorgeous, what a lovely little surprise. Also the fact that the book was wrapped in fabric was so exciting to me. Now I have some pretty new fabrics to work with and I think I know just what they will end up as.
Thanks Jennyflower, it was such a treat. If you aren’t familiar with Jennyflower,you should definitely pop on over, she is such a sweet gal and does beautiful work.
On a side note, my brother leaves today, we had a really nice time with him, and will miss him. The rest of our week should be fairly normal and back to our routine, though I’m hoping for some better weather as it would be really nice to have the kids play outside some. The problem with winter here is that it gets really windy. The cold wouldn’t be so bad by itself, but the wind can be brutal. Most of the time it is too much for the kids to go out, or dry clothes on the line, they just get whipped off, so I am really looking forward to warmer, less windy days.
I am making good progress on my crochet project and hope to have it finished next week. Also, I am trying to decide on what our one small change for March will be. Oh, and we have to take our eldest to the dentist again as he needs another repair on his braces (second one in one week), which is a bit of a pain as it is so far away. So maybe it won’t be such a normal week after all.
books, gifts, sewing • Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 • 5 Comments »
Much of this past weekend was enjoying a wedding and all that it involved. My brother flew into town and we are very much enjoying his company as well. I was thrilled to be asked to do the flowers for the wedding so I thought I would share some pictures of them with you all.
All four of my kiddos were in the wedding, and the girls each carried one of these. The brides bouquet above went perfectly with her gorgeous bronze dress. It’s been a while since I’ve done flowers for any type of event, but it was a lot of fun. All of the flowers were faux, as they were done in advance, but nowadays there are such pretty, convincing faux flowers that it was near impossible to tell.
We had a great weekend, hope you all did too.
family, gifts • Monday, February 22nd, 2010 • 15 Comments »
Dreaming of warmer days as we are under lots of snow and ice and cold, grey days.
Have a great weekend!
nature • Saturday, February 20th, 2010 • 7 Comments »
I’m starting a new crochet project. It’s one that I’m really not sure if I’m going to love it in the end, but I think I am so I’m jumping in. Worst case scenario, I rip it all out and use the yarn for something else. Either way, I’ll definitely show you when it is finished and more than likely ask you all for your opinions, unless I decide I can’t stand it already. Vague, I know, sorry.
Super excited as today my brother flies into town. We haven’t seen him in a while and we are all so excited to get a couple of days with him. The kids really can’t wait.
Also, it’s a winter wonderland out there again. It’s been snowing since the day before yesterday, and we got a lot through the night. Right now it’s beautiful and untouched, but soon it will be a big dirty, slushy mess, ugh. I am so ready for spring. I’ve received two seed catalogs in the mail the last couple of days and I’m really looking forward to the weather warming up and us getting back to being able to grow some food and flowers.
I’d better run, I’ve got a house to tidy, some food to make and of course lots of snuggles to give. Hope you guys have a great Friday.
crochet • Friday, February 19th, 2010 • 15 Comments »
