An afternoon in the garden.

We are having a lovely bit of weather. It won't last- the rain will return and really we want it to. But while the sun shines, come for a little walk in the garden...

~Back on the swing~

~Dotty wonders if she can eat the camera~

~Yoko & Dotty (yes, I'm crazy about my chickens)~

~Lucy stuck all over with twigs~

~Hellebore~

~Hellebore 2~

~Crocus- love those bright orange naughty bits!~

Unplugged Project: Alphabet

Our life was slow this week- mostly about being in the house, coughing and taking naps. We found some mellow games which did not tax our cold burdened bodies, but gave some entertainment to our boredom addled minds.

The best game was Montessori influenced: The Bag of Mystery! One of the girls put on a blindfold and I put something in a cloth bag. They pulled it out- felt it- smelt it- and guessed what it was. So simple and yet entertaining!

For our Unplugged weekly project, so nicely brought to us by the nice family at Unplug Your Kids, was about the topic Alphabet. We went simple again. After my older daughter unshelled last years Scarlet Runner Beans (a fun project all to it's self) we made letter with them on the sunny window sill. They also fit inside the car. :)

Off Topic: how are you feeling?

Maybe it was having a cold (for weeks), maybe it was the girls both being sick, maybe it was my husband being gone for the week, maybe it was the lunar eclipse (yeah, I know, but come on! if the moon can effect the big, old ocean as strongly as it does, why could it not effect little mostly-water me?) or maybe it was all of the above, but I just wasn't my usual positive me this past week. I felt has if I could see the beauty but I couldn't feel it or care about it. Let me tell you, I didn't like it.

I'm glad that feeling- or lack of feeling- is gone.

As I was jogging this morning (yippee! after no exercise for at least two weeks), I was listening to a Bat for Lashes song called "Sarah".This song sometimes just grabs me by the throat- or maybe it's my heart. "Sarah- sometimes I want to be like you-Sarah-you know sometimes I want to live like you-Sarah-so I know how it feels not to feel". Crap, I sound like a fifteen year old here. Of course, I don't want to be unfeeling, but I often do wish I was rather more thick skinned. At times, I feel like transparent little fish being pushed this way and that by the random currents that come my way. I want to be a tree. I want my roots deep and firmly planted. I want to feel, but not be ruled by my feelings. I don't want to have other's emotions pushed upon me.

So, how to feel, to love, to eat life up with a spoon and yet to be strong and sure?

Well, enough of that. Back to crafts and gardens and things that go squeak in the night.

P.S. Look! Bat for Lashes playing a gig in a library! Now I love them even more. Love the headbands, but I think you have to be under 25 to pull that look off....

Unplugged Project: Fabric

The Unplug Your Kids blog project for the week had a theme of fabric. This weekend found us outside a lot as the sun was out and the rain was taking a vacation. Sunday we even took a row on the pond- our first of the year! Monday seemed like a good time to dive into the fabric stash, but 3 year old daughter woke with a fever- ugh the colds continue! Well, 7 year old daughter was looking for something to do and she said she wanted to sew. We collaborated- I helped her cut out some shapes and she sewed them on. I think he's cute and he now lives on my office cork board. :)

I didn't get any sewing done this weekend, but last week I made a gnome/pooka house for the girls for V.Day. I sewed them hats and cloaks out of wool felt and an old sweater. The girls have been having fun with them.

Here was the V. Day bouquet from the garden- rosemary in bloom and Hellebores. Sunshine is nice. Hope to see more of it in June.

Weekly Unplugged Project- magazines

This week's project at the inspirational blog Unplug Your Kids was anything related to magazines. The girls and I taped some paper together and began work on a big ocean scene. We used crayons and water color paints for the water and then added animals that the drew on other paper, colored and then cut out.
We had great fun making plants, rocks and ocean creatures out of magazines. Pottery Barn was very useful for this project!
I had dug out an pot of Modge Podge for this week's project and decided to make covers for the outlets on the kitchen back splash. I used the covers as a guide and then cut them out. I put a layer of glue on the cover and then another layer over the paper. I used my fingers to smooth the paper out and bend it to the cover. I was skeptical, but it turned out looking pretty good (hubby even made a nice comment). I doubt they would hold up in a high traffic area, but we almost never use these outlets. Here is the finished project:


Satisfaction rating: 95% Fun times!

Did the girls like it? Yes and yes!

Meet Ginger

She is my first softie made from the Aranzi Aronzo book Cute Dolls. As usual, I seem incapable of following directions. Well, I didn't want to buy fabric (feeling good ex-Catholic guilt for all those years of buying fabric and doing nothing with it)- so I used wool felt instead of cotton jersey as recommended.
Mostly, I think she looks sweet and it came together pretty well. I am most happy with her dress- I have had the cherry blossom fabric and vintage ribbon for years! She went to her new home Friday night with her cheerful 9 month old new friend. Hope she doesn't fall apart.

Satisfaction rating: 85%

Did she like it? Well, she put it right into her mouth, so I think that is a good sign. ;)

UnPlugged Project: Pipe cleaners

I recently bumped into a nice blog called Unplug Your Kids which has weekly activities to do with your kids. Fellow bloggers share their projects and I have decided to join in. :) While we are not tv free, we are happily living without cable and video games. We also limit screen time- there is just so many other cool things to do! My daughters are 7 (M) and 3 (N) and I know we will all enjoy the Unplugged projects!

I only had white pipe cleaners- we also used empty toilet paper rolls, corks and foil. I really just let them follow their own creative path...

On the right is my robot- he is very good at going the dishes and cleaning under the refrigerator. N's creation is on the left.

M made a boat with corks inside and lots of tape.

N discovered her creation made a nice purse for Hello Kitty.

M hung her other creation and my robot which made a nice mobile.

Fun time!

bad cookies, bad cookies!

Over the weekend the girls and I made the sugar cookies from the William Sanoma cookbook. Easy, right? Well, baking is tricky, I have found. And for each of my successes I find I have at least one failure. This was a failure. The dough would not stick together. I managed to bake about six cookies- they were decent right out of the oven. But, after an hour, they were hard as a rock.

Here are my guesses as to what went wrong:

• too much flour
• butter too cold and didn't get creamy with sugar
• too much mixing

I don't think the oven was too hot nor did we over bake them. Ah, well!

Satisfaction rating: 20% Hate to waste all that butter! Made the chickens happy though.

Did the girls like them? They each ate a couple right out of the oven- so- Yippee!- not a total gutter ball.

Felt owls from M's design

I love owls and when my seven year old daughter presented me with a wonderful drawing of an owl, my brain started clicking it's wheels. Could I make a softie like her drawing? Using wool felt, I free handed the shapes, added feathers and feet with embroidering floss, and used beads for eyes. I had ordered a bunch of herbs- violet root and red clover leaf- that I had no plan for, so I filled the owls with the herbs. They smell good and I love their quirky looks. I've sent them to my sisters and some friends- it's about time to make more!

Satisfaction rating: 100% Simple, yet creative enough to be satisfying. What makes it a 100% was that it was a collaboration with my sweet daughter!

Do the girls like them? Yes, but I have not made any for them yet.