Hello, Monday! A busy few weeks these past weeks. This week will be no different.
I'm enjoying...
Loving how the Cranberry Orange bread loaves makes the house smell sweet and fruity. Recipe from good old Betty...
Gazing at a new bunch of lilacs and wishing they'd last longer...
Thankful for some quick lunches (a before and after shot)...
Grateful to my two younger boys for sweeping and applying a little elbow grease to our long-neglected back deck...
Watching my youngest prep his pinewood derby car and realizing too late that only a little dab of gorilla glue will do...(notice how it foamed up...we had to scrape off the excess with an x-acto blade after it dried and repaint the whole thing...I think it's saved in time for the coming event)...
Appreciating the old adage, "necessity is the mother of invention" with a quick lunch of leftovers and some curried chickpeas and tomatoes. Notice the vegan plate** (kale chips, kale & quinoa salad, broccoletti and chickpea dish)...I'm getting my kids (and husband) ready for a month of vegan eating...Actually, it won't be that difficult since we eat a lot of meatless things anyway. I guess the hard part is the month without cheese and dairy and eggs and ... but then, Heather did say, I could change up her course to fit our family... we'll see...
** what you don't see is that we also had some mozzarella balls (a.k.a. monsteralla as my youngest refers to them) and some leftover chicken for Sunday lunch
I walked into the kitchen yesterday morning and my youngest was staring through a pair of binoculars at the backyard.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"They've grown!"
"What? What has?"
"I can't believe it." (here he softly groans)
"What are you staring at?"
"The dandelions. I just cut them a few days ago and they're back again..." (he helped mow the backyard on Saturday)
We both agree that they are rather pretty and really, why do we need to consider them a 'weed'? They're very useful little things...think of all the recipes or art projects one can make with them! I really should reconsider their lowly status.
Attempting to feed some ducks who were not overly interested in eating...
Sauteeing baby kale with olive oil and garlic and watching that huge bunch wilt into a small pile! Recipe from the back of the package (found HUGE bag of baby kale at Costco...love it)...
Being surprised by a kite and making note to myself to take our kite next time...
Baking 2 gallons of granola...getting ready for the next tournament...anyone want to come & judge?
Discovering a new shirt pattern and hoping to try it out soon along with a myriad of other sewing projects...
Thankful that some ribbon from my stash easily dressed up a few Easter treats...
Thankful too, for our Risen Christ! He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. ~ Matthew 28:6
Happy Monday Morning, I think... Not exactly my typical Enjoying post...hmmm...posting a little later this morning because I already am having to correct some bickering and complaining children, doing some last-minute cleaning before the appraiser arrives...
...realizing that I'm a bit behind on homeschool plans for this week, realizing too, that I haven't even made Valentine cards yet and tomorrow's the day, still recovering from a rather blah week and weekend with gray and cold weather and not feeling the best...
But then I pass this simple vase of daffodils. Daffodils that were nothing more than stems with practically no yellow showing at all when I bought them a few days ago. And yet, with a little water and warmth, they're blooming...which makes me smile. And I remember how good God is and how much I've been blessed.
Happy Last Monday of January... Hope your time over the weekend was restful and fruitful. Right now I'm enjoying...
Realizing how deeply we all love good bread around here (no, I did not make it).
Watching my son make chocolate peanut butter balls all by himself...and share them with someone who's going through a rough time recently. (they're called 'buckeyes' ~ never knew what a buckeye was until a few years ago)
Loving the mystery of fog that crept into our neighborhood within a few hours. It always reminds me of The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Happy that my children love a good game...this time, Telestrations and getting lots of laughs from it.
Finishing all 3 mini quilts (will show later this week).
Beginning to pick out fabrics for Randi's Fresh Squeezed upcoming Sew Along...what serendipity...my ironing board cover is...ahem...ugly and needs to be covered.
Being thankful for another family meal spent together after listening to God's word preached. What a blessing, indeed!
Hello Again, Monday! I love how you follow the start of a new week, but could you please slow down, just a wee little bit?
Hope you had a restful weekend.
Forgive the food-heavy post. We did do other things besides eat this weekend. Just didn't whip out my camera.
Right now I'm enjoying...
Making a quadruple amount of breakfast snack for our Sunday school class...
Watching in amazement how an entire batch of Oatmeal Cinnamon Cookies can disappear in less than 24 hours... (thankfully not by me...completely)... (recipe from Good to the Grain) Realizing that even 3 mini quilts take longer than anticipated to sew but thankful for the sewing time...
Spotting this fellow dip into the rotting squash left on the back porch...
Hoping that he'll return to finish the job for us... (oh, and do you see that white stuff? The first snow of the season for us...exciting!) Waiting for this job to get done so that our house will be toasty once again... brrr...just looking at it makes me shiver. You should hear the wind blow. Thankfully no storms!
Christening our super heavy 7 qt dutch oven from Lodge Logic(Thanks, Mom & Dad!) with curried potatoes and realizing that just holding the pan makes for a good arm workout in the kitchen! Planning on making more of it this week...
Good morning, Monday even if I'm not ready for you...
Hope all of you have had a productive weekend.
Right now, I'm enjoying...
Seeing the bright cheery color of a new knitted project...
Gobbling up a make-shift lunch. A favorite around here...a little cheese, black beans, green chilies atop corn tortillas, broiled for a minute or so then topped with avocado, salsa, sour cream and black olives!
Thinking how this month's calendar page was fitting for our home improvement project ~ a little 'destruction' in order to rebuild ~ Not sure if that was the artist's intent, but that's one interpretation. (I'll share some more progress soon)...
Liking a not-so-little spool (1/2 lb!) of red & white baker's twine that arrived in the mail a few weeks ago...
Embarking on a new little hopefully life-long 'project' for this year. Will share later. Stay tuned...
Wondering if I should make something with these or simply look at them. Like jewels. And wondering if I'm not alone in that line of thinking... (tell me I'm not alone)
Hoping that winter's weather will be more consistent and settle into a rhythm again. Perhaps a little snow, please?
Capturing some of the season in a jar and making table centerpieces for an event: canning jars, weeds & leaves from my yard = free decor...
Loving the grays of a sudden storm and how its light casts an eerie glow on the yellow leaves in our backyard...
Anticipating the new year with the purchase of two new calendars: Inherit and Art...
Surprised that little creatures and plants haven't taken up residence in these already considering the length of time they've been sitting outside (and the many rainstorms they've endured)...
Hoping that this forgotten egg experiment makes it safely into the trash can...
Thankful for the overwhelming swirl of clean clothes (yes, clean) despite their need to be folded. Want to come for a folding party?
Thankful too for a quick lunch of leftovers...black beans, guacamole, rice w/cumin and cheddar!
Happy that a pair of baby woolens are off the needles...
Hoping that as we all head into our busy weeks with much to do, that we remember to be grateful for all the whats and wheres and whos we have about us...
image from: Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com
Aren't chipmunks cute? Small and friendly. Lovely little striped backs and heads. I remember as a child having a chipmunk eat from my hand. That was exciting! Last year, we discovered what must have been a chipmunk burrow right beneath our front stoop, and we've seen one chipmunk exploring our back deck from time to time. So, when I saw that those little creatures were part of Autumn's Handbook of Nature Study lessons, I told my children to keep an eye out for our little friend. Alas, these past several weeks as the colder weather is settling in, we haven't seen our little friend anymore.
But we've seen lots of squirrels. So we began watching and observing their actions instead. They are so full of energy at this time of year. It's very difficult to get a good photograph of one (sort of like photographing an on-the-go toddler but far worse!); they dart about so quickly, scampering up our bird feeder or 'hopping' in the grass to escape from my 11 year old as he chases them away. By the way, that particular feeder is part of science experiment - left side is filled with corn and the right is filled with nyjer seed -we wanted to see which food certain birds liked more. The squirrel likes the corn!
These were the 'after shots' of the peanuts. My children had placed big handfuls out at first and even had a trail from farther away leading onto the deck.
Before we gave up on chipmunks entirely however, we thought perhaps we could entice them with food. Specifically, peanuts. After seeing this video and this one, we bought several bags of raw peanuts and placed them on our back deck. Nothing happened. No chipmunk. No squirrel. Until...
We had 2 visitors...Blue Jays! Certainly not what we expected. But being flexible in a nature study is always necessary. We watched with fascination as the blue jays cautiously flew down from a nearby tree to land on our railing and then slowly come in for the peanuts. Unlike the chipmunks who have pouches in their mouths to carry LOTS of food at one time, the blue jays could only carry off 1 peanut at a time.
My 11 yo took several super-short movies using his camera. You can see them above. Sorry for all the clicking sounds - that was the sound of several cameras snapping. Reminded me of a fashion photoshoot... Sorry too for that smudged and dirty window!
My daughter took some beautiful photos of the blue jays and wrote a poem about them. Go & see!
Even though we didn't end up spotting our little chipmunk friend again, we sketched some chipmunks and squirrels into our drawing books and enjoyed the lesson overall. We're still placing peanuts out for the Blue Jays while secretly hoping we'll see that chipmunk!
