as cozy as spring

Happy thoughts

List of things I never get tired of...

• the smell of rosemary
• John Denver (my daughter is learning this song on the piano)
• photos of coffee or knitting
• a phone call from my parents or brothers and sisters (thanks for the call this morning Chris)
• the feel of my children's cheeks when I kiss them
• reading Harry Potter (they can't all be poetic)
• running on a cool day
• the sound of my husband's car as it pulls into the driveway in the evening
• my son sleeping on my shoulder at Mass

• butterflies and honeybees

Happy Monday friends!

Projects

The Scrabble letters worked out so well for spelling and reading lessons, I made some numbers for math.  Just little wooden disks from the craft store and a paint pen.  My son uses them for number recognition and addition.  My daughter uses them for multiplication review; randomly choosing two numbers from a jar.  It's fun and simple.  Perfect.

I spent the weekend in bed watching Sarah Richardson remodel homes (love her!).  This is so bad for me.  I start thinking, "I could take out that wall...I could replace that door with a window... I could upgrade all our windows...and if I'm going to do that I might as well..."  In reality, I can't do any of these things.  But I can declutter and clean up a bit.  An autumnal spring cleaning before we enter the busy Christmas season.  Our biggest problem is books and where to put them.  A bookshelf that would be big enough to hold all of our books would not fit in our home, so they are stuffed in armoires, bulb crates, wooden wine boxes, under beds.  Needless to say, I misplace a few here and there.  I pulled out all of our autumn and American history books this weekend, but what to do with the rest?  Perhaps Sarah could come by and add a library on to our home?

And yes, I am expecting an Amazon order this week.

It's a rainy Friday morning.

My husband is off during the week most weeks and in the spring those days are spent in the backyard.  We play games, toss the football, grill out, and sometimes just sit.  Our china berry tree blossoms are attracting butterflies in large numbers and varieties.  And the garden, after so much gray this winter, is super saturated with color.

A basket of Sunshine and Pelle's New Suit.

My husband was making a meat loaf yesterday and called out to me as he was gathering herbs, "Sweetie, your caterpillar is on the wrong plant."  This led to excited squeals from his girls as we replied that he wasn't on the wrong plant, he was about to build his cocoon.  Did you know chrysalis is from the Greek word meaning gold?  I didn't either but that's what the internet said when I looked it up.

My go-to recipe for cheesecake squares because it's an easy formula to up size or downsize.  And no, I didn't eat even a single bite.  Honestly. 

And more foxglove, just because.  

I don't really have much to say today and I need to start getting the children dressed, so happy Friday friends!  Ours looks to be a bit gloomy, but I can't complain after days such as this.

Focused writing is overrated.

For an early dinner: Mushroom Bourguignon

For the garden: Planting garlic and onions today.  I've only ever planted garlic in the fall - we'll see how this works!  My husband wants to give strawberries another try - Their shallow root system and my forgetful watering habits seem to do them in every summer.  My husband also wants to try putting in a sprinkler system.  I have to consistently remind him that I never forget to water the children.

Paperwork: All tax documents are in and I'm going to see if I can manage my earliest filing ever on Tuesday.  

Sewing: I'm sewing for others a lot lately which is why you aren't seeing any of it.  I've given myself deadlines and I'm feeling awfully cute about it.

I finally changed to reusable grocery bags.  I held out for a long time, feeling self conscious about the whole idea.  It just seemed sort of showy to me.  But now that I have made the switch, I'm quite happy about it - if only that those bags carry a lot more than any other which comes in handy when you are trying to hang on to a bouncy toddler in a busy parking lot.

(And I was stocking our pantry here - I put all the vegetables away prior to taking this photo, really I did.)

Another switch that was easier to make: Cloth bags for gift giving instead of wrapping paper, ht Nina.  I have plenty of scrap fabric that is perfect for sewing little bags.  And the recipient can reuse it as a bag or cut it up for scraps of their own.

Update: Dinner was quite good.  That recipe is a keeper.  However, I think (and my husband agreed) that if you use vegetable stock, you need to up the garlic and not go light on the salt.  The beef stock probably would have made for a tastier dish, but that just isn't going to happen here.  My husband also requested more sauce, so I think I'll double the stock next time and reduce it further. 

Mixed media writing.

Busier lately!  And my fingers are stiff and freezing cold so here's a space filler post for you, probably riddled with typos - see 'cold fingers'.

Reading: The Bad Catholic's Guide to Wine, Whiskey, & Song: A Spirited Look at Catholic Life & Lore from the Apocalypse to Zinfandel (Bad Catholic's guides) Still.  I have to say that this book is brilliant and I don't even drink a little bit.  It is making me laugh hysterically and making me a better Catholic in ways that bring tears to my eyes.  There are so many passages I've wanted to share here but that would end with reprinting the book entirely, so just read it yourselves so we can laugh together.  

Waiting: For this gorgeous fabric from Bee Square and trying to resist the urge to order more before my last order arrives.

Teaching: We're back at it.  Our peace was spoiled by ballet and gymnastics and and and.  I'm waiting on a few books from Memoria Press and we'll be set until spring.  

Craving: Green.  At this time of year, I repeatedly call my local nurseryman (who is incredibly handsome and charming, I must say) with requests, "Are you carrying the John Paul II clematis?"  and "I need pink Asiatic lilies.  Pure pink, no stripes." and "Blackberries!" and "Scented geraniums!".  I think I'm just going to print out a list and send it up there.  

Celebrating: 15 years together with my husband - our first date anniversary was yesterday.  I still can't wait for him to get home every night (hopefully bearing gifts of blackberries and lilies).  And also celebrating this and this.  

Must get to breakfast and lessons now - Happy Wednesday friends!

And on the seventh day

We have been busy bees lately.  My desire to sit still this Advent has not been fulfilled but we've had opportunities too good to pass up - like learning how to knit little newborn baby caps with the most charming homeschooling families - who could resist that?  My niece turned one yesterday and there was a party full of chubby babies.  And then there was the Nutcracker with my daughter.  I've been so many times but this time was remarkably good.  Like so good I was glad no one could see the super goofy smile on my face.

But today I am staying home for the first time in weeks. I have assembled an inspiring collection of stamps, puzzles, yarn, fabric, coffee, paper dolls, Dallas Cowboys football and a Harry Potter movie marathon.  And I was lukewarm on any handmade gifts but the tide has turned an oh, I have plans now.

And I'm off now.  Much relaxing to do.  I hope your day is every bit as pleasant.

Gathering

For the holidays...The email rate between the girls in the family is increasing rapidly for we will all be together in a few weeks.  And, even more fun, we will soon welcome another girl as our sister.  

For Prayer.... We are joining our fellow Catholics in praying the novena for that thing coming up (we'll call it the-event-that-shall-not-be-named-at-as-cozy-as-spring).  So I have a question to my fellow Catholics who are also praying this fairly long novena as a family.  Does it void the prayer if you have to stop in the middle to snap at your children, "Will you stop hitting one another?  We are supposed to be praying!"  And also?  If anyone wants to console me that I'm not the only one who has to interrupt prayer time to discipline the children, I'd appreciate it.

Around the fire.... The first fire this season.  And a rotten fire it was.  I can manage to fake a roaring fire to greet my husband by hurriedly throwing some brush into the fireplace.  Alas, it burns out in just a few minutes.  But we gathered around it all the same.

And I'll pass on to you something that occurred to me tonight....

What good is a lovely warm fire if I don't sit down and relax in front of it?  So I did and it was heavenly.

And also...

The log cabin quilt really wants to be made.  And yes I know I ran out of the light blue fabric.  And I know the plaids are all kinds of wonky, but I love this square so much I had to take it along when I ran errands today.  It sat beside me in the passenger's seat and I would wink at it at stop lights.  I am all about the scrappy quilts.  Give me yards and yards of beautiful fabric and I see nothing, but one tiny leftover remnant and I am inspired - nay, obsessed.  Because there's a story in that square and a quilt should always have a story to accompany it.  I just made that up, but I like it.

...ing

Craving...

• a log cabin quilt in cozy plaids (I don't actually have time for this.  I'm in denial)
• Apple cider 
• Little House books (we are rereading them just because we can) 
• Scrabble 

 Planning.....

• A whimsical Halloween menu. 
•  Next year's book order (we finish our "year" on December 1st and I find myself without books)
• the Christmas cookie list 

Thanking...

• ..God for last year's rotted pumpkins from which sprang forth a healthy plant and this gorgeous female flower.  Temperatures may dip into the 30s tonight.  It's a bit late for all this gardening foolishness, but we can't help but hope. 

  
  

Like a few other bloggers, I toyed with turning off comments, but I really like comments - on my blog, on your blog.  I love comments all around.  I don't want people to feel pressured to comment because, let's be frank, we all have stuff to do.  But I consider you all my friends so comments are open if you want to say "Hi!'.  Oh and while I'm talking about it, I really am going to try to respond to comments here.  I normally do it through emails, but it occurred to me while reading through archives that it appears as if I never responded and maybe other people wanted an answer to that particular question too.  Also I love comment conversations on other people's sites.  

Oh and one.more.thing.  Does anyone know a good mail order bulb source?  For obvious reasons I shop locally for gardening supplies, but I am unable to find snowdrops this year and people, I need snowdrops in my life.

Nothing in particular.

Google Reader has sort of killed my link life.  Instead of posting here what I love around the intranet (hi Dad!), I just hit "Share" and am done with it.  But as I don't so much feel like talking about myself right now, I'll point you to...

Angela's amazing October photo.  This photo makes me want to drag out the waterpaints  (is that not one word?  I'm awfully tired.)

and

Margaret's monkey bread recipe - made it today.  It's already gone.

And my husband and I figured out that by drying all of our clothes on the line and making my own laundry detergent I am saving over $1000 per year.  Yay me!  I secretly feel guilty for not contributing financially, so saving money any way I can makes me very happy.

Well that's all.  I'm reading, with great interest, all the political posts people are writing.  I think I proved yesterday that I'm a total wimp when it comes to writing about controversial topics (you know, like books). And y'all are saying it far better than I could.  I'm in total agreement with the Catholic Church on all issues which leaves me... where exactly?  Ah, therein lies the problem.  

OK then.  I'm off to bed.

A place for everything even if it's wrong

My mother always stored the hand mixer down below the counter with the pots and pans.  It didn't really make sense to me, so when I set up my own kitchen I put the hand mixer in with the appliances.  But whenever I needed the hand mixer, I instinctively went to the pots and pans cabinet.  So I finally gave in and moved it there permanently.  I hope my daughter will also keep her hand mixer with the pots and pans.  

This is a long way of saying when I cleaned up last week, I lost a bunch of stuff by putting it in its proper place.  I needed my sewing machine manual this morning and of course, I went to look with my fancy dishes in the china cabinet because what better place to store a sewing machine manual?  It's always been with my fancy dishes.  But not anymore.  I organized everything and now I've lost it.