a number of things

Stitchin' Away

A couple of days ago, Amelia and I were looking at a few crafty blogs when we came across this post showing the beautiful needle book that Michele's lovely daughter had made.  Well, Amelia asked if I would do a post about her latest sewing project, so here it is!

       

A few weeks ago, Amelia (almost 10) began asking me what she could do for a "business".  You see, her older brother is selling our chickens' eggs and I have Gardens of Grace, so she thought that this was probably something she ought to explore.  I didn't have any ideas for her, but it wasn't long before she came up with something on her own.

       

She dug out a pile of 5" squares leftover from the fabric garland project, sewed a couple together and then poured in a generous amount of dried lavender flowers (leftover from a long ago project that I can't even remember now). The next thing I knew, she was "in business" making and selling "lavender pillows" and had a sketch of a business card that she wanted me to work up in Paint Shop Pro. I am amazed how much like me, as a kid, she really is. I had so many little "businesses" growing up, and almost all of them involved selling the little things that I would make to classmates and unsuspecting relatives.  Amelia sold her first two to her grandparents. :-)

She has high hopes for her little project, and I think that is great. We discussed price for quite some time and she decided that $1.00 each was probably a good idea.  One of these days, I want to do an Etsy shop to sell some of the little things that my mom, Amelia and I like to make.  One day...

      

Geoboard Abuse

       

I thought these things were supposed to be educational?!   

   

WIP & a Rabbit Trail of Sorts

         

Well, it's back to the beads!  After too long away, due to a myriad of duties and distractions, I'm making rosaries again.  I'm so excited about this bunch and it feels good to be beading again. The slow repetitive process of stringing one bead upon another, provides me with ample time for prayer and meditation.  Prayers especially for whoever will eventually own each piece.

Yesterday, I ended up on a rabbit trail of my own.  I was visiting a few blogs that I had not been to in a while and came across this post on Cay's blog.  That post took me to the 4 Real Learning forum where one click led to another and I stumbled into this post on Rebecca's blog.  Anyway, it reminded me that I always intended to make some of those neat dressing frames for the preschool aged kids, or at least something vaguely similar.

I ended up combining the need for a church "quiet tote" for Marie (to carry her little books that help her to keep semi-quiet during Mass) with the dressing frame thought. 

         

I dug deep into my stash of fabric scraps and found enough medium weight prints to make an 8" x 11" mini tote.  It has a pocket with a button flap on one side and a zippered pocket on the other.

 

The top is closed with a large snap.  I haven't yet figured out where to stick eyelets to lace and tie, maybe the handles. I figured Velcro would be a bit loud for church. :-)

    

Our Mardi Gras

Today is Ash Wednesday, so of course, if you live in south Louisiana, yesterday was a very big day.  It was Mardi Gras, which means no school for any kids (homeschooled and otherwise) and no going to work for Dads.  Now we have never got into the whole parade thing, (even though it is hard to drive very far without finding a street blocked off for one) so we usually lay low and just hang out at home.  But this Mardi Gras, we went fishing!   

         

Now, lest you think we have deprived these poor children, we have indeed taken them fishing before.  But not like this.  Some wonderful friends of ours asked us to go to their relative's stocked pond, and was it ever stocked!  Nearly every time one of the kids casted out, they reeled in a fish!

        

This was instant gratification fishing all the way.  Five year old Joseph alone caught 21!  We threw a lot back but also kept a bunch. 

        

Little Marie was kept safely strapped into her life jacked and was not real sure of what to make of all the action, but even she got to hold a rod and catch one.

After catching all that would fit in the ice chest, we went back to our friend's house where the men and older kids cleaned and fried up the delicious fish.  When we had all eaten our fill, there was even some left for the freezers of both families.  Now that is my kind of fishing.

       

Our (Nutty) Valentine's Tradition

       

We have this crazy Valentine's Day tradition, of having a treasure hunt!  Yep, during the week or so leading up to the big day, the kids start eagerly anticipating the year's hunt.  (The hunt is kept rather small in comparison to our BIG treasure hunt during our annual spring fling, complete with secret codes and much adventure, but that is for a future post.) I think we have been doing the Valentine's Day hunt for about 7 years now, and the gang shows no signs of loosing interest.  We actually started it as a way to add cheap excitement to a feast day and make the relatively small amount of candy I was willing to give the kids, seem like "treasure". :-)

Chip (dh) is our resident "hunt-maker".  Last year, he composed riddles that the kids had to figure out in order to find the next clue.

      

This year, he took photographs of 5 locations around the house and attached a different kid's name to each one.

        

As each child received his or her picture, (One at a time, of course, in order to drag out the excitement as long as possible.) they had to go to that spot and look for their clue.  Each clue was a section of a cut up treasure map and when they were all pieced together, the map directed them to the location of the "treasure".

         

And, after much pondering and head scratching...

         

...the secret stash of this year's St. Valentine's Day loot was discovered!

         

A happy feast of St. Valentine to all!!

   

Wow!

Some sweet person has nominated this little ol' blog for the Catholic Blog Awards! It is in the category of "Best New Catholic Blog" along with a slew of other fabulous Catholic blogs. Thank you, whoever you are, it sure is fun just being nominated!

 

Thursday Corners... Finally

I really enjoy looking at all the little areas in other's homes for Thursday Corners, and I have wanted to do such a post for quite a while now.  So, because it is once again Thursday, (where did the week go?!) here are a few pics from some of my favorite kitchen corners.  (These were taken early last Thursday morning, before our little splinter episode.)  To truly appreciate where this kitchen has come from, here is one of the few "before" pictures we have of the kitchen area.

         

In the summer of '98, we had a very old (but structurally sound), tiny, cypress house moved onto our land.  The hole that you see in the ceiling was caused by the chimney in the attic toppling during the move and the bricks falling through the kitchen ceiling.  When we fixed up the area, the far window that you see was covered by the stove and cabinets above it. (You can get a glimpse of it here.) A room was also added onto the other side of it.

         

This is the corner where I spend so many hours. (Sorry that the photo is so dark, it was taken early on a rainy day.)  When we were finally done with the kitchen, I was at a loss about what to do in that space between the counter top and where the cabinets began, and stay on our tight budget.

         

I really wanted a bit of blue in the kitchen, so I first hung a few old blue and white plates from the local flea market. 

         

I next picked up a couple of frames from Hobby Lobby (50% off) and printed out some fun, black and white photos of the kids to go in them.

         

I love being able to look over and see their smiling faces while I am cooking away.  The little hand soap pump is from Gooseberry Patch and the dish soap bottle (on the other side of the sink) is handmade pottery from a little shop in Gatlinburg, where we often visit because Chip's family lives there.

       

The Best Laid Plans of Mice & Moms...

              

I had plans yesterday, to do a corners of my home Thursday post complete with several photos (which the lovely Genevieve had requested some time ago).  But, I ended up spending most of the day at the doctor's office getting a giant splinter cut out of 5 year old Joseph's heel. (He ended up with 3 stitches out of the deal!)  It gave me a lot of time for reflection, a lot of time.  I have been so amazingly busy lately (hence the scanty posting here), but yesterday I had time to think... and be immensely grateful.  Grateful for the health and well-being of my family, grateful for the fact that we were only getting a monster splinter removed and nothing more serious than that.  It gave me time to remember all those hours spent in waiting rooms with kids much worse off.

So anyway, while I was at the doc's with Joseph, the other kids hung out at my Mom & Dad's house where a couple of them created the cute little mice you see above.  Yep, my mother is much more creative than I am. (But she won't admit it!) I truly do have so many things I would like to post here, and will!  But, (there's always a 'but') just not yet.  There are a few large projects on my plate at the moment, so it might be a little while before I get to those plans.  Basically, I am apologizing ahead of time for the lame posting in the next 4 - 6 weeks or so.  But this too, shall pass. :-)