I'm a Teacher

I have sung the praises of my planning book, and it continues to make life easier for all of us.  I've been really digging this super organized Melissa chick.  So new and unexpected and effective!  I was out on my own the other day and someone asked me, "Are you a teacher?"  I was a little unsure how to answer.  I asked why and she said I just look like a teacher.  I am a teacher, since I home school.  I do lesson plans, grade papers, calculate scores, and encourage.  I also have discipline problems in my school, disruptive students, and my janitor leaves much to be desired, to say the least!

And I put off grading papers on Saturday to sew!  I made some skirts for my girls out of embroidered pinwale corduroy which are just too cute, if I do say so myself!  A longer one for Mini Me:

And this (For Baby Jane), of the remnant, to which I added violet gingham to make it long enough and ruffly!

This one only took me about an hour from start to finish, but I have to put in elastic still.  They were both just rectangles and ruffles, super easy to cut and just throw together.  No rice paper to pin, no markings to make, no zippers to wrestle with, and super cute!

Pork with Rosemary, Always

My mother's recipe, in her own handwriting:

The first time we made this together, I had a boy-man coming to dinner, and she wrote it in a book that she'd been preparing for me with other recipes... I don't remember that boy's name at all, but making dinner with my mom is a very fond memory.  I made it one night last week and thought I'd record it pictorially.  I used fresh rosemary and my enameled cast iron dutch oven... I highly recommend this to new brides to register for... let someone else buy you a treasure you can hand down to your own grandchild.

I have been putting a pitcher of water in the fridge with a few herb sprigs in it for a little mama treat:  It's amazing how potent herbs from one's own garden are compared to those you buy at the store.

And, the finished product, complete with rosemary sprigs from my garden:

Birthday

I am now the age my mother was when I graduated from high school.  This could possibly be depressing, but really, I'm happy to have lived all this life of mine.  My birthday was a wonderfully fun day, thanks to my darling husband and my dear children.  I slept in, had brunch in bed, rose to a family cleaning the house for me, finished a knitted t-shirt, and then took an hour and a half to get ready for a big date with my manly man.  He took me to DC to see an adaptation of "The Liar" by the Shakespeare Theater Company, and to dinner, and generally tried to show me a good time with flattery and humor and tenderness.  It was a great day... and I am a very blessed woman.

Also, he bought me a mug which features Shakespearian insults which makes me laugh... and since we recently bought a stovetop espresso maker, I had to christen it with a delicious, perfectly foamy cappuccino.  Et Voila!

New Arrivals

Well, we are officially starting our food production endeavors as of this morning!  The chicks have arrived!  This year to save time we ordered two specials from Murray Mc Murray Hatchery, the Barbecue Special (Straight run cornish x's or cornish roasters) and the Rainbow Layers Special (various breeds of chickens that lay colored eggs).  So, as of 8:23 this morning 51 little funny little feathery babies are living in our garage.

The Little Engineer wants to sell eggs this year so I got a dozen chicks for our family and a dozen chicks for his entrepreneurial endeavors.  Now, should we house all the hens together or separate them?

These are the meat chicks... they're born to eat and be eaten... these things grow so fast they're ready to butcher in 6-8 weeks... they really are bred to eat... they pretty much sleep, eat, and poop constantly...  This is not normal chicken behavior.  Normal chickens browse on grass, chase bugs, play roosting games, scratch, take dust baths, and can be trained to come when you call.  I don't enjoy raising the cornish x's at all.  They seem like something outside of the natural order, some sort of mutant monster out of a mad scientist's lab or something.  My sister wondered if eating animals bred for eating constantly has any effect on our own appetites?!  Why are we raising them?  I don't know... just because, I guess!

Here's our brooder set up:  not exactly high tech... it's packing boxes taped together in an oval shape and filled with hay!  It was virtually free and recycling cardboard to boot. The chicks seem warm and happy in their new temporary home.

A final shot of the cuties!

Outside

Well, we have a closing date, finally, which gives my life some focus finally!  May 3rd we have a scheduled closing and we move in two weeks... woo hoo!  My FIL mentioned to my husband that he'd like some exterior pics of the house so I got right on it.  We went to the house yesterday and measured rooms so I could plan furniture layouts, and walked the property, and I took some shots of the house and grounds!

Yellow, I love yellow houses!  I'm already seeing the garden!

The "front four" and the long, long driveway, which I have plans to flank with flowering trees, probably fruit trees and arbor day foundation freebies.  Picture: chicken tractors, fiber animals, a milk cow and her calf, and maybe even pigs!

Daddy and five little people.  OK, one is getting awfully big to be called little.  The woods are beyond the road which is the boundary of our property.   

This property is just ideal.  There are neighbors, which is good, but the property really seems private and secluded in many ways, and oh, so beautiful! There is a creek, which in the photo is swollen due to lots of rain, and a fishing hole just a bit down the road.  I can envision puddle playing and a willow tree and paper boat races.  We even met some neighbors, which was just ideal!  Sometimes it's hard to meet your neighbors in the country, OK, sometimes it's hard to get to know your neighbors anywhere nowadays!

I want to pause here to say that I do not deserve this wonderful blessing!  I am so thankful for grace, so needy of mercy, and so very, very undeserving of this!  I have to get a little overt here!  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!  OK, that says it all I think!  (Have you noticed how many exclamation marks I use?  That's just how I speak... I exclaim!)

Olympics Fever!!!

It's been snow, snow, and more snow around here!  It snowed so much it filled up the cattle guard and the cows thought they'd traipse right out of their field this morning to look for forage.  My neighbor's son called and gave us a heads up, so I thought I'd just roll out of bed, wash my face, get dressed, and see what's up out there... Or what's out up there... hard to say when I've just woken up.  Aaaaaanyway, I'm not packing... I'm procrastinating because I'm trying not to think about moving when the stupid Bank of America won't hurry up and tell us if we can have that house or not!  (Ranting... anger problems, apparently).

Instead of packing, I'm planning a unit study for the Winter 2010 Olympics.  It's fun!  I've found that my kids are rather weak in Geography and so the Olympics are a wonderful opportunity to get those world maps out and start learning about countries and where they are while we watch the competition!  Also, my oldest is studying Ancient Greece right now and so we're working in the Ancient Olympics, too.  Also, Canada, snow, and, if I can manage it, engineering a snow apparatus outside, while there's still snow to push around.  I think the Little Engineer will enjoy that.

We've really been inspired by the Olympic Motto and Creed.  I guess I'll just go ahead and post them ;)

Motto:  Citius, Altius, Fortius (Swifter, Higher, Stronger)

Creed:  The most significant thing in the Olympic games is not to win, but to take part.  Just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle.  The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

Soooo, we've been setting ourselves some goals for this Olympic period, which is, as of now, 20 days.  I'm going to work on my abs... by working them out 4 times a week on our pull up bar.  Also, I'm going to try harder to work out, yoga or pilates, 4-5 days a week.  Aaaaand, I'm rereading Raising Godly Tomatoes

Finally, on my pursuit to challenge myself for this 20 days, I've decided to compete in the Ravelympics 2010, which is a competition on Ravelry, one of my favorite ever sites, where one can get almost anything a fiber freak like me needs for inspiration.

I am competing on the ClubFoot Ravelympics team in the Giant Slalom-ghan event... which means I'm going to try to crochet an afghan in 20 days... 20 days.  The rules say you can't start your project except for swatching before the Olympic flame is lit in Vancouver, and you have to finish your project before the flame is extinguished, 16 days later.  It's sort of a fun way to compete and make projects and enjoy the Olympics all at the same time!  Jeremy drove me to AC Moore yesterday to get more yarn for my brown sweater which is wet blocking right now in preparation for seaming and knitting neck ribbing and button bands.

While we were there, I spotted a sale on cheap o acrylic for an even cheaper price of 2 for $5... I thought about that and overcame my acrylic aversions when I realized the whole afghan would cost less than $30 to make and my kids will ensure that it needs to be washed repeatedly anyway, so acrylic would be a good idea.  So here's a sneak peek of the colors:

I'll be posting updates!!!  The Olympics starts in 3 days!  Are you getting swifter, higher, and stronger?

National Gallery of Art

Most modern art I dislike... OK, well, postmodern art. But I love to look at Mark Rothko's later canvases. Let me clarify, I love the Color as Field pictures before the darkness sets into Rothko's work, cause that dark stuff makes me super sad. I can't wait for the Mark Rothko Exhibit that opens at the National Gallery of Art in May. We visited last Tuesday for a first hand look at Jackson Pollock's No. 1 Lavender Mist, as we've been studying some modern artists in school... Color speaks to me, and large canvases that are non representational are often very emotionally evocative to me... Still, Jackson Pollock is hard for me to understand... even in person, which is quite a bit better than a little pic in an Art book (or online).

I took a couple pictures of the kids in this neat, cosmic, walkway art installation that I'll share...

I had a great time, but I have to say, sometimes it really blows to have kids five and under on a museum trip... It's one of those times we all came home, brushed our teeth and went to bed, bedtime or no!

Tortured Soul, plus a Sneak Peek, Master Bath

Can you believe we still haven't gotten word about the house! I have been really patient, trying not to count my eggs before they're hatched. Well, that is over, my friends. I am counting eggs. I am completely emotionally invested in this house now. I want it bad. So, now that I've shared my idolatry with the world... here's a Sneak Peek of the Master Bath, and my pretty friend.

I know what you're thinking.... Oooooooh, toilet paper roll! No, wait. Big two person garden tub! Separate sinks! There's a tiled shower on your right with a rainfall showerhead. I'm not sure yet what to do for a window treatment in here... I want to see the view and get all the sun I can in the morning... but I don't want people to see me, if you know what I mean.... maybe roman shades? The light in this room is perfect for plants... ferns, orchids maybe. Up for daylight, down at night... If you turn around you'll see the awesome walk in closet... oh, no that's the next sneak peek!

Sorry!

How very Blessed

So, I got on to blog about a couch I found on Craigslist last night and I see the news about another quake in Haiti. I'm horribly shocked at what is going on in Haiti... I imagine people there are feeling like the world is coming to an end. I feel silly even thinking of writing a post on decor. I mean, really, who cares in the long run, if my purse pops against my grey skirt, or if I get a great couch cheap or not, or if my living room is color coordinated or not, when people are living under a sheet with their extended family of 7. I, like many of you, are seeking out ways to help, and I'm sure you've found ways to donate money or time or clothing by now and I hope you're doing it. I hope for all our sakes that we, as people, aren't totally self centered and we look up and out to affect the world positively. Sometimes I wonder how much my little bit can really help, then I think about the fact that the little I give isn't necessarily a big deal for the people of Haiti by itself, but it's important to my own humanity to give SOMETHING, to just CARE. So, I'll leave the couch post for another day, and go be thankful for the two damaged, kid worn couches I do have. At least I don't have to live in a sheet.

Merry Christmas, Y'all

Um, I'm a Texan by marriage, in case you wondered about the "y'all"! It's the day after Christmas and I didn't go shopping. No, I stayed home and made Christmas dinner! Yeah, I should have made it last night, but about noon yesterday I started dinner, or asked my hubby to make the marinade and put the beef roast in it, and he did... then at 2pm I pulled out my new copy of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" (it was a Christmas gift from my hubby!) and the recipe for Braised Beef was never gonna be done before 10pm, so we made omelets instead, per Julia's instructions... which I mastered by the way... I can make a really good omelet now in about one minute, literally! Thank you, Julia! OK, anyway, I started again today, with a beef roast that was fork tender before I even started braising it thanks to the 24 hour marinade in 5 cups of burgundy and so so many other good things! We had the braised beef, turnips, and Brussels sprouts, and it was all divine! Divine, I tell you!!! I can't even describe the wonderfulness of it, but wow, prep time was killer! I'm trying to decide if all the prep time is worth it or not! So, I'm not really a foodie, OK?! I know someone who is, though, and I'm trying to get her to blog here with me... it would be nice to have more posts, no?

Knitting continues; what a blessing it is to me! It has become this exercise in productive rest for me: active meditation, physical prayer, and mental Sabbath... My life's stresses are mostly emotional and mental, and the meditative nature of knitting is a good palliative for a weary mind and heart... like prayer or sleep. When my life is physically rigorous, the knitting falls to the wayside.

I wonder if I'll stop knitting if I start working out?! See, Joy, I can't work out, my fiber pursuits might suffer! Maybe I'll just give up the French food instead! So, I don't want to work out! I'm not an active person by nature. Read: Lazy... Projects on the needles right now (too many!): jaquard vest, lace stole, orange cushion cover, sweater for Jeremy, socks for Jeremy... That's it, I think!

In the sewing arena: One grey wool skirt... cut but not begun, need thread. After it's finished, the sewing machine and paraphanalia are going into storage till we're moved into the new house and new window coverings are required!

Upcoming in my life: packing, packing, and more packing... No word yet on the house, but since we don't want to close on it till March, it's OK... It's an exercise in faith... if we get it, Hallelujah, if we don't, well, Hallelujah, too! I'm waaaaay too blessed to complain! We are all hoping for that house. My children are already debating about bedrooms, my husband is envisioning a garage woodworking shop and fencing, and I'm thinking about window coverings and space; glorious, wonderful space.

Why I Hate Halloween

I hate to be scared. Sometimes, at night, when my husband comes home and I didn't hear him and I see him out of the corner of my eye when I'm doing dishes or something. I freak out. By this I mean that I gasp, I scram, and then I actually cry real tears because I'm so startled and scared, and throw myself into my husband's arms feeling happy that he's not a bad guy while he apologizes for startling me. My stepmother always said it's because I have a guilty conscience that I get startled so easily, but really, I'm just a scaredy cat. I hate scary movies, I hate haunted houses, I hate it when people talk about ghosts or paranormal activity, and I absolutely, positively abhor anything that celebrates witches, ghosts, goblins, murders, blood, ghouls, demons, or pretty much scary anything. Which sort of rules out Halloween. Which is sad, because I love to celebrate. I celebrate obscure Saint's Days, just because. Also, I love to wear, make, plan, and look at costumes. To top it off I really adore the idea of visiting one's neighbors to say hello and share a little treat. I'm happy to celebrate things that promote goodness, generosity, bravery, selflessness, new life, thankfulness for a good harvest, love, rest, friendship, or joy, but I will not celebrate fear, evil, darkness and debauchery. Bah Humbug!

I do have and alternate idea for the fall, that incorporates treats, visiting, partying, and all fall wonderfulness, such as apple dunking, pumpkin treats, and also, bonus, dancing!!! I think I'll have a Hoe Down in the fall. It could be a family event to which everyone brings treats, sort of like a dress up dance, only it's all Cowboys and Prairie Princesses. I could incorporate a talent show, or a one-act play, or even a comedy act.

People who think like me usually hunker down on Halloween, hoping no one too scary comes to their door asking for candy, but this would be much more fun. I've been wanting to have an annual "event" to which I invite my friends for a big blowout. Perhaps I'll throw a great big Harvest Dance in a barn somewhere in October to sort of replace Halloween for me and my kids. I don't mean a normal Hallelujah party with costume competition and trunk or treating with a "salvation message" thrown in... I mean an old fashioned Hoe Down, that celebrates that all the hard work of summer is over and the harvest is in and we have time to throw a party (put your "hoes down" ladies and gentlemen!). I wonder if anyone else would come if I specified that it was "Not a Halloween Party", or "Western Dress Only"? The menu could include:

Corn dogs: they're portable and kids love them
Candy apples: ditto
Apple butter and pumpkin spice donuts
Crudites
Cheese and Crackers
All the finger foods and desserts people care to bring to share
Hot apple cider, Iced tea, lemonade, and a cooler of cool water to cool down after gettin' down!

To solve the whole costume envy thing, we could move the costume party to New Year's Eve... then the whole scary undertone wouldn't be there and people could get as creative as they like, without offending my delicate sense of all being well with the world. Why not just completely remake cultural norms because I want to! Get on board people!

A New Farmhouse?

So... I haven't posted in MONTHS! I know you're all busy and hardly noticed, but I missed blogging. I always wondered why people decided to take three months off in the summer instead of having year round school... and now that I have a little mini-farmlike lifestyle, I KNOW WHY! Summer is hard work. The freezer needs to be filled with veggies and fruits and chickens, and the pantry needs to be filled with jellies and jams and canned tomatoes. If we had a cow, we'd need to make cheese and get all that surplus milk dealt with. Not to mention the laundry. Yeah, it was a busy one!!!

It is fun, though, to open a jar of your own tomatoes, from your own garden when a recipe calls for 28oz canned tomatoes. It's fun to work with your kids around the kitchen table putting those tomatoes into jars, too. The knitting and sewing suffered over the summer, too, and now that cool weather has returned and I'm indoors more the urge to clothe people is compelling me to make stuff. So far I've made a shrug and bonnet for a friend's baby, a sweater vest for my baby, I finished the knee socks, started a pair of socks for hubby, cast on a stranded sweater vest, and have knit the back and left front of a cardigan for hubs. No sewing. Guess why....

We've been house shopping! We toured and compared, we walked lots and explored pastures, we debated gas vs wood fireplaces, and we finally signed a contract to buy a house. Of course, it's a short sale, and so many things could fall through before we close on the house. As a matter of fact, I'm trying to reconcile myself to it falling through now. I mean, if I don't get this house I'll know that God wants to remind me that Heaven is for the afterlife and not the here and now, because that house is perfect, OK, it's darn close to perfect.

It's yellow. My very favorite house color (I'm so ordinary). It has five bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a family room, and a great room attached to a kitchen with granite counter tops and an island and a double oven with a gas range. It has beautiful distressed oak floors (exactly the kind that my husband daydreams about when we talk about our dream home) and gorgeous light fixtures that are the perfect mix of traditional and simple. It has a front porch with a tin roof, a fenced yard, a creek, a pasture, lots of trees, and a view. I wouldn't even need to paint... and I like the carpet, and the windows are big, and it's only 3 years old... Should I go on? I mean, I could, if you want me to. I could mention the great big storage room.

I really have appreciated the farmhouse here, and the farm itself is glorious, but we are a bit shoehorned in.... not that the bedrooms aren't adequate, they are, but there's just one living area and we do EVERYTHING in there. It's a foyer, and a schoolroom, and an office, and a playroom, and a living room, all at once. So it gets messy, and really downright dirty rather quickly. Living in a house built in the 20's is rather romantic.... but the windows are really old and one can feel the wind in the winter, and the floor isn't insulated, and the furnace burns heating oil, which is stinkin' expensive. The stinkbugs and ladybugs just wiggle right into the house through the windows in the fall and try to hibernate in the bedrooms by the hundreds. Not to mention the constant battle with paint chips and lead in the pipes that would make any mom rather worried. So we're ready to go. In the spring.

What have we learned here on the farm? We learned that we can grow a whole lot of our own food. We learned that we love chickens and the eggs that pastured hens lay. We learned that we are NOT city people. We love the country life, and we love the outdoors, and we love to be able to LIVE in our house and not just sleep in it. We learned that we love Jersey milk from Josephine, the cow who provides it...and we like knowing our milkmaid's names too. We learned that it's waaaaaaay harder work than we thought it would be, but it's fun, too. We learned that my husband wants to be able to go on vacation, so we'll probably never have our own cow! Oh, also... that largish yellow labs sometimes like to steal eggs from chicken coops and can squeeze themselves through remarkably small chicken doors to do so. AAAAAAAaaaaaaand that I hate raccoons and love MaryJane Butters.

Starving

Did you ever get the feeling that something is wrong at the heart of your soul? That you've missed some essential, foundational point that is necessary for contentment? I've been feeling that way lately. It's sort of like an itch on my psyche... and I can't seem to scratch it.

I look at my life and see many areas that are being neglected, but the most important are always the most difficult to take care of. They take planning and self discipline and time and effort to tend. I was struggling for awhile with really taking the time to enjoy my kids, but I think that is starting to be much more of a habit of thought, I do enjoy my kids more... Lately I've had this body image/fitness conflict raging which I think is only a symptom of the deeper, subtler angst that I'm starting to face now. I usually find a lot of spiritual fulfillment from making things, from creating, from making things beautiful, or from making a really great pie, making a dress or blouse: make, make, make. I used to see it as an act of Worship to take what is mundane and make it sublime. Lately, I haven't even wanted to create. I've clung to my knitting like an addiction, a need to be filled, but found so much less joy in the accomplishment than I used to. My cooking lately: uninspired, bland, and plain boring. I hardly even walk in the garden. I am no longer worshipping, I am drudging, slogging, out of habit or duty or something.

Something is wrong. The truth is this: souls can starve. Mine needs some nourishment. Most of my readers are moms, so you'll probably recognize this habit. We make the kids lunch, and we make it good for them... we balance the menu, thinking about protein and calcium and fruit and veggies, we include a bit of whole grain in there somewhere and finish it off with some organic whole milk... We make really healthy kid food: simple, boring, and as whole and unmeddled with as possible. And for our own lunch? We eat whatever the kids left on their plates so that food is not wasted.

I think spiritually, I've been eating whatever is left after the family has had their fill.

Clear as mud?

So, the "what to do" for me, is obvious. I need to eat. The problem is: I've lost my appetite.

So, I've decided to institute a sort of invalid diet of psalms, proverbs, a Gene Livingston Hill novel, and tv restriction (because, as we all know, junk food ruins your appetite for what is wholesome), also an early morning prayer and meditation time, which I've neglected for a while because of babies and a lack of routine. So, in with routine and out with unfettered free time. In with wholesome, simple spiritual nourishment in the hopes it will increase my appetite again for more complex and sophisticated fare. And for mercy's sake, more writing!

A Bit to Mourn

I am Reading: A Book on Calculus... weird, huh!? Romans, Make, Grow, Gather

I am Thinking: About my girls that I lost. We're down to three hens now, and four in the brooder with the broilers. They were such good little hens, such good layers, such funny little barnyard companions. I'm mourning the chickens. I miss their eggs, too.

A lot.

I asked my landlord if he'd sell me some hens, but he said that I'd have to take a rooster, too. I just put professor in the freezer a few weeks ago, and I'm not ready to love/hate another Roo, yet. So, what to do? I suppose I'll just have to wait to see what happens.

I am Working on a couple pairs of socks, the ironing basket, the laundry, and the new schedule for summer.

I am Wearing denim capris, a white cotton cable sweater and my Green stripey Wellies... and wild frizzy hair pulled into a pony tail.

I am Teaching myself new routines for the day, the children to obey, and cheerfulness in adversity.

I am Cooking some roast chicken, with mashed potatos and corn for dinner... maybe some fresh bread, too.

I am Planning some housecleaning, some organizing, some gardening.

Outside my window, but not today:

It was beautiful around here in April... See that house at the end of the road? It's for rent, so perhaps we'll get to meet a new neighbor, soon. The forsythia makes me so happy in spring. It just slays me next to that black board fence. So gorgeous. Isn't the light beautiful?!

One Year on the Farm

I'm not sure of the exact day that we first drove onto this farm, but I know it was just about a year ago. The farm looks just the same today as it did the first day we came... a little cool, and wet, dreary sky, newly green fields, maples abloom, daffodils smiling. I've spent a wonderful year nesting and creating, teaching and nurturing, making and growing. I've even fulfilled the goal I had for myself of averaging at least one post a week... this is my 53rd post, here on the blog! I haven't done everything that I would have liked. The trim still isn't completely painted, I didn't put as much food in the freezer as I'd like, I haven't got a milk cow yet, and I have hundreds of photos that I've not blogged yet. But I did so many new things. I made my first pickles, and froze veggies from my own garden. I raised chickens and collected my own farm eggs. I ate chickens that I raised myself. We even are growing our own beef now. I've planted my first potatoes, caught my first raccoon, and had our first at home campfires. It's been a great year!

I've been thinking of setting myself a few goals for the next year.

1. Use the daily schedule I always spend so many hours making every six months

This is usually my best tool for accomplishing what seems humanly impossible, but I've been severely neglecting it. When on a schedule, my family hums along like they're on a track, and it makes the off schedule fun stuff so much more fun.

2. Make more time to "fill up" myself with good things: reading, prayer, exercise, education

I've been feeling a little as though I've been pouring all my good stuff out for everyone else, which is exactly what everyone should be doing, but now there's nothing left, so I've got to top off that tank. I've gotten some serious life improvement reading planned, some biographies, and some classic lit on my reading list. Prayer time will depend on the success of goal number 1. Exercise is already something I'm doing better with, little by little, but I want to take advantage more of the beautiful farm to hike.

3. Make friends with a new dentist and most likely an orthodontist as well. We've been in VA two years now and we haven't visited a dentist here, yet.

This is probably self explanatory, except it's hard to find time to take ONE child anywhere... and though my children are exceptionally well behaved, most of the time, doctor's offices tend to bring out the worst in them, so I tend to procrastinate about medical appointments.

4. Limit the number of projects I have going and purge projects that have languished

I've got decades old cross stitch projects sitting in baskets, fabric I don't really like anymore, and acrylic I'd rather not touch, much less knit with or wear.

5. Potty train the baby

This should help in both the laundry and time management areas, not to mention making the older, diaper changing kids really happy.

6. Organize more social time with other ladies and a monthly date with my hubby

I want a little more time with my "sistahs" and my sisters. I really dig my hub, and I've been on like two dates with him in two years. It's very, very sad.

OK, so enough of my introspection... I have definitely had spring fever and have dropped a bunch of cash of new yarn and fabric... and a few new project books. Last post, I promised some pics of knitted goods:

Also, just today, at nap time (as in 10 minutes ago), my hydrangea and Carding Mill rose arrived! Yay! I need to get those in the ground, pronto. My three peony plants in the front garden are coming up, as well as what I think is a rhubarb. I've discovered, looking around, that my gardening style is very cottage garden... ie I just throw the plants in the ground somewhere and hope it looks nice.

St. Patrick's Day

Look at this pretty little vignette...

My stove, though not pretty in and of itself, especially since it always needs cleaning, still manages to catch my eye occasionally when I'm cooking.

But look what's on the stove...

A beeeeeeutiful enameled cast iron pot in my favorite blue! I got it half off. Yay for me! I got two actually, so really two for the price of one! Except they're different sizes, though both adequately commodious for cooking for my big family.

Now, look what's in the pot...

Mmmmmmm... Irish boiled dinner. Corned beef and cabbage and potatoes and carrots. Yum!

I had a little conversation with my sister recently about how noticing the beautiful in the mundane is part of being really happy. I'm convinced it's one of the keys to contentment in whatever circumstance you find yourself in. I think that the pursuit of happiness and contentment in my daily life has inspired me to make all the things I have to use a pleasure

Creative and Organized, is it Possible?

I was perusing Blue Yonder today and lo and behold, she linked HERE

I'm blown away. How could someone have such beautiful artistic sensibilities and still have such a clean, organized space?! It's as though her aesthetic and art have melded into a cohesive whole that I previously thought impossible. It makes me want to just go through everything and organize it beautifully... but perhaps washing the dishes should come first? Geninne's Art Blog is absolutely, fabulously, wonderfully inspiring, and can I just say that I love that she has a homeschool/studio.... That's what I need! I could just chuck the guest room and make that the school room instead of making it share space with the living room and dining room. I'll have to think on that one. I love her mixture of the orangey tones with the blue and brown, too.

OK, so news here is that I've finished baby Ava's matinee jacket and bonnet and am knitting away on the second bootie to finish off the layette. I think that if I was comissioned to make this layette I'd charge $250. It was fun, and the color is a joy to work with; bright, cheerful, and beautiful. But lace in fingering weight wool is VERY time consuming. Still, it's beautiful! See!

Also, I've decided to put up curtains in the living room. I bought cafe rods and ring clips, so now I just have to pick a fabric. I'm sort of waffling between blue and brown and orange... and green.

Finally, don't tell my husband, because he thinks it's silly, but I want to build a birdcage... I mean, not NECESSARILY for birds to live in... I could put plants in it, even fake birds, or a bird mobile, or some paper cranes or something... but I want a birdcage. Not the kind that has bars and scrollwork, but a nice, big one, with a wooden frame painted a color I like with window screening on it... maybe with grass planted on the floor.... Hmmmmmmm.... I'll have to mull over that one a bit more... I'll post pics of the living room and you all can give me opinions about what color curtains to put up, or whether it should be a solid or a print, geometric? and bold or subtle.... Of course, I'll do just what I want to, but I'd love your ideas, anyway!

Pleasant Work

My husband comes from a family of really hard workers. These people don't sit around and play games, they build patios together, they don't go out and buy an outfit for a baby gift, they make a crib... my husband's father is such a hard worker he pushes himself till he gets ill sometimes. I'm telling you, this has to be genetic, or something. My boys are really hard workers, too. My almost five year old today was clearing ice off the back patio, voluntarily. He was wielding this full sized shovel, jaw clenched, muscles straining, eyes determined, and not giving up. He smashed and shoveled and pushed and never complained once about the cold or the hard work. He just dug in there and did it. We actually had to tell him to go in and have lunch Right Now! He says, "I just wanted to be really helpful, Mom!" That is so endearing, because it's good evidence of an active personality and willingness to be useful. He was really, really helpful! My girls like to be helpful, too. They like to help with the baby and help with the meals and help with the kitchen, as long as they don't have to do it alone.

I think that working as a group, with people who you find pleasant, makes work pleasant. One hears or reads stories about quilting or husking bees, barn raisings, etc. in the past. Women used to just come and visit with a paring knife when the peaches needed to be put away, or ready with a thimble to help quilt, or even baby on lap and spinning wheel on the back of the donkey to sit and spin and visit. An agrarian life always has some task that needs doing at home, but that shouldn't keep us isolated. The old saying, "A man works from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done." is true of all homemakers. The work is endless, and most of us, instead of resting when we have spare time, just pick up some work we've been putting off for when we've "got a minute." Often we let that get in the way of fellowship. It's so easy to get stuck in a rut and never reach out beyond one's family when home is most of your world. Why should we not have parties for butchering the pig, or canning apple butter? Why not let many hands make light work and have a good visit, too? Why not have "Upholstery Saturday" once a month and rotate to all your good friend's houses to help with home improvement jobs. It makes work pleasant, turns a curse into a blessing, and fosters community. Working together is also very good for family relationships, as long as the work is done cheerfully. Mopping the floor can be fun if you race to get your section done first, or Mama reads aloud while you scrub. I have very pleasant memories of singing with my Grandma while we did dishes together. We sang a round about Lilies of the Valley, which just happen to be my birth flower:

White choral bells

Upon a slender stalk;

Lilies of the Valley

Deck my garden walk.

Oh, don't you wish

That you could hear them ring?

That will happen only

When the fairies sing!

I say this, but actually it's hard to ask people to "come and help." I assume it's kind of like asking them to come to a "party" and then offering to sell them jewelry. It's not exactly a party, is it? Of course, if your neighbor helps you move and you help them cut winter fuel for their furnace, it all works out in the end, like an economy of tasks. You watch my kids while I'm having a baby, I'll help you put in sod. I help you build a tree house, you help me put up pickles. I help you butcher a hog, you give me sausage, or a massage, or a makeover, or a tractor. You get it! Now, my question is: is all that taxable?

Now, I'm not a born worker like my husband's family, I often would rather sit and talk than get up and help work... I'm not a hard worker, I'm kind of lazy. I'm really better at delegating... (yes, I know, I should be ashamed of myself). But, when asked to help move, or help cook, or help butcher, or help cut and freeze sweet corn, I work hard, because I can work and visit, too. And, what's more, I enjoy myself! So isn't it safe to assume that when you ask people to come and help they enjoy themselves, too? I'll have to sit and think on that!

A Winter's Walk

Well, I'm finding that this farm is just as wonderfully beautiful in winter as in summer and fall. I'm smitten with this place. It so often reminds me of the farm I lived on in Upstate New York when a girl. I hope my children experience that kinship with nature as I did growing up. I always felt as if I could almost feel things growing, like I could sit on a big, old rock and almost hear it telling me the story of the land, of glaciers and floods, of plows and boys in overalls planting trees, of seedlings and flax crops. I think I've lost some of my imagination, but I can see it alive in my children. They roam the farm and name all the little places they like. There is a group of rocks arranged in a large circle that they call "The Cathedral", a little bit of clear ground overhung by an arch of branches from trees that just happened to grow in two rows that they call "Trinity Church." Grand Grove, the Treehouse, and Muddy Bottom are all places that my children have named and inhabited as their own. They don't have the waterfall and mill and apple orchard and ancient graveyard of my youth, but they have magical places of their own, and sometimes they let me in.

Yesterday we took a hike since deer season is over. We sort of were looking for nuts, as we've been studying the wild foods that Native Americans ate before Europeans came here, but of course the squirrels have hidden them all away in their larders. Instead we found a turtle shell right next to a hole in the ground. A freshly dug, neat little hole into some animals winter home. Maybe a fox or badger? We've been reading Wind in the Willows so the children imagined all sorts of wonderful little furniture and comforts in there, but realized that the turtle probably met an unfortunate end in it's dealings with the inhabitant.

Big Plans

I remember planning my life out when I was a girl. My dreams changed, but I was very particular and specific about them, at least till I changed my mind. My eight year old daughter pronounced that she wants to have 13 children and fill up a 15 passenger van the other night at dinner. The next night she said that she wants to sew all the clothes for her family in "Prairie Style" and weave the cloth herself and spin all the yarn herself. I think she's been reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Pretty much she's saying she approves of my ideals and choices, but she's gonna do it all better than I do it. Well, good plan, as far as I'm concerned. I'd like to do it all better than me, too!

She's such a little even tempered thing, too! She probably could handle 13 kids no problem, she already mothers the youngest two children all the time. I have to forbid her to hold the baby during school because she'd much rather play with him than do math. I know she probably won't have 13 kids or weave all her family's fabric for clothing, but I'm proud that she understands what a privilege and honor it is to be a homemaker. She understands already how it is a hard job, but one that has scope for so much creativity and inventiveness, joy and challenge. It makes me proud to inspire her, cause she's gonna be quite a woman no matter what she becomes. I take pride in my roles as nurturer and inspirer, educator and nourisher, comforter and mentor. I know that the better I get at my job, the more I invest in the people in my life, and in the care of that which I've been granted, the more power my actions yield. The act of smiling in spite of the hard work, and even because of it, can inspire my girls to serve with joy, and to love being useful.