Jamberry

At the end of the school year one of our teachers had a Jamberry Nails party and Anna and Abby and I picked out "Punchy Puff" to try.

They're vinyl nail stickers- pretty easy to put on, and they lasted on my toes almost a month before I messed with them too much and peeled them off.  

Before Fashion Revue I finally put them on Anna's fingers and toes.  It took about 30 minutes to do both, but no drying time!

Then Katie wanted in on the fun.  

Her toes are still going strong, but her fingers lasted less than a day.  She peeled them off.  

So far, from one sheet of stickers ($20 with shipping, I think), I've done my toes twice, and Anna and Katie both fingers and toes.  I think we have enough left for at least one more set of nails.  

Here's the link to my friend Jillian's Jamberry page if you're interested.  It was a fun summer thing to try!

15!

To My Dear and Loving Husband
by Anne Bradstreet

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay;
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

Happy 15th anniversary to my favorite.

(TBT) 10th Anniversary Video.

Hope sustains the farmer

Something for Hope  

Robert Frost

Something for Hope At the present rate it must come to pass And that right soon, that the meadowsweet And steeple bush, not good to eat, Will have crowded out the edible grass. Then all there is to do is wait For maple, birch, and spruce to push Through meadowsweet and steeple bush And crowd them out at a similar rate. No plow among these rocks would pay. So busy yourself with other things While the trees put on their wooden rings And with long-sleeved branches hold their sway. Then cut down the trees when limber grown, And there’s your pristine earth all freed From lovely blooming but wasteful weed And ready again for the grass to own. A cycle we’ll say of a hundred years. Thus foresight does it and laissez-faire, A virtue in which we all may share Unless a government interferes. Patience and looking away ahead, And leaving some things to take their course. Hope may not nourish a cow or horse, But spes alii agricolam ‘tis said.

Source Link

That Latin at the end--spes alii agricolam = Hope sustains the farmer.

 Happy Harvest.

I know I'm pregnant but...

I know, I know, everything makes me cry these days but seriously...



Seriously!  Does this unscheduled visit not make you cry?

Kids in the Kitchen

Summer mornings around here.  June 2014

That's Katie's medicine concoction she's drinking.  I'm so glad we figured that out!  Medicine, chocolate syrup, vanilla creamer, and whole milk.

Happy Independence Day!

"Remarks"

There was much clamoring on facebook for video of my "Remarks" at the AASL awards ceremony.  There is no video, which I am thankful for.  :)  I was nervous enough!

Here's a copy of my draft.  Imagine the speech being roughly like this-a little too fast, and wobbly at the end.

Thank you, Carmela

 In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Grandpa Joe says to Charlie-“I’ve heard tell that what you imagine sometimes comes true.”

 Thank you to Penguin Random House for sponsoring this award.  In our tiny library, $5000 is more than twice my budget, and will make a huge difference to our students.

 Thank you to  AASL for creating this award. It inspired me to do a little more, to connect with teachers and students, and to reach out into the world beyond the wheat fields of Kansas.  What marvelous ripples have come from the pebble you dropped into the water!

 One of the great joys of this project was watching my students imaginations ignite.  It is not possible to read Charlie without feeling the cold, and the hunger, or seeing the magical world of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory in your minds eye.  Capturing this momentum, the students could picture a cold prison floor in the Andes, and were thrilled to be able, with their own hands, to improve the conditions for those children. 

I was surprised to see how many of our students “tried out” the blankets when they were done.  They wrapped up, they laid them on the floor to see how they would look, and they hugged them to their faces.  Imagination feeds the heart, which hungers for action.  Thank you for the opportunity to discover this with my students.

 Roald Dahl knew this, I think.  He created worlds that we all love to enter, with vivid imagery and lovely vocabulary. His books inspire us to think about justice.  How should adults treat children?   How should children treat one another?  He doesn’t dance around the issues of poverty, or violence, or neglect, but lays it out for us to look at, and invites us to consider the choices and possibilities in our own lives.

 I imagine that every time a student reads a good book, it shapes them into the people they are meant to be.  I imagine that we have the unique gift of helping them to find those books.  I imagine that every day we can change the world.  And Grandpa Joe says that what we imagine sometimes comes true. 

Jimmy's "Ammals"

Sweet Jimmy at 22 months old.

Viva Las Vegas!

Today MJL and I are flying away from the dust and the crops and the babies!

Here's the link to the AASL website announcing the award.

And here's the link to the Telegram article.  (nota bene~  if you are giving a phone interview, ask the reporter to email you your quotes so you can edit out the ridiculous things you say.  The word "stuff" for example.  Sheesh).

And here's our hotel...

AND HERE IS A LIST OF THE EIGHT SWIMMING POOLS AT SAID HOTEL!!!

Oh my goodness.  I'm excited.  I have a little tiny speech.  3-4 minute "Remarks" but after that it's all fun and games.  And swimming.  :)

I'll admit that it's a little scary to fly away-we've never been this far from the kiddos before.  I know they'll be in good hands, I'm not a bit worried about that-but still...

And I've been having nightmares!  I'm not worried that I'll accidentally ruin our lives, but I AM worried that I'll accidentally SEE someone ruining their life.  It keeps waking me up at night.  But I'm pretty oblivious to the world around me, so we'll probably be OK.  :)

Here we go!  Wheee!

Summer 2014 List!

So how'd we do this Spring?

Spring 2014

1.  LIBR 859--Done! One more, Praxis test, all over!!!
2.  Easter!  Have a super fun party hopefully with some friends.  Find the line between making things fun and being ridiculous and making myself crazy.   Lovely and perfect.
3.  Anna's Birthday!  Have a party.  See above.
4.  Clean up (out) my craft room.  Yes, but then Katie came down on her own and torpedoed the place again.  With red glitter.  I'll cross this out too if I clean it up AGAIN.
5.  Make Cover Ups for all three kiddos. This was so much fun that I also made matching outfits.  
6.  Finals Boxes to College Kids.  
7.  Finish Bible Project.   Nope.  
8.  Alleluia Banner I just put the Anna mantle up right after Easter.  Maybe next year.  
9.  Mending Basket  I dread this so much!  But it wasn't bad.  
10.  Mail pile of things to be mailed.    10 things!  Poor postman thought we'd never finish. 
11.  Plant garden.  Be ambitious, but not crazy.  See #2.  Nope, even though poor Spencer finished tilling it up for me, tired Mama never got anything planted.  We'll just cover it with some black plastic and call it a fallow year.  

Not too bad!

Summer 2014

1.  The Fair!  All the projects, all the paperwork, all the events, all the animals-relax and enjoy.  Specifically:  

• Sundress
• T-shirt dress
• Orange Poppyseed cookies
• Apricot Spice Bars
• Pig
• Goat
• Photography
• Art piece
• Crochet
• Field Crops

2.  Finish Grazie's blankie! At the cabin-hooray!

3.  Write "Remarks" for AASL reception in Las Vegas.

4.  Go to Vegas and have a super fun time with MJL.

5.  Swim and hang out with Abby and have fun. 95 passes used this summer!  and 15 sno cone flavors knocked off the list.  :)

6.  2 year portraits of Mr. Jimmy and family pictures-cabin? Oops, no family pictures.  Hopefully we can do that this Fall.  

7.  Continue working on Study Room with Abby.  Really making progress! 

8.  Sort Mom's sewing stuff into my studio. It's not all sorted, but it's a start.

9.  Finish READ 861 and get certified as a librarian! Just waiting on paperwork now.  So exciting!

10.  Make box into "drawer" for Katie's clothes in new room.  

11.  Start a new school year.  Breathe and be easy.  

12.  Father's Day Paintings

13.  Finish Bible project for Jimmy's Birthday?  In progress though!  

14.    Filing in Office I did it once, but it built up again!  Silly papers.    Done again.

15.  Lobmeyer Banner?  I decided it would make more sense to make one the same time as I make Grazie's, once we know names and stuff.  :)

That's enough.  Hooray for Summer!

That's plenty!  Hooray for Summer!

A new project

I've got something new to work on!  

And I have to remember that if it means that other things fall by the wayside, that's just fine.  

Making a new blankie, and all that goes with it, is hard work.  

This one is for someone we're calling Grazie for now.  

And I've got until November, so there's plenty of time.

Hooray for babies.  :)  

Ingleside 6/13/14

I snitched this from Dad's house.  I think it started life as a bedspread, and then when I was little we used it for a picnic blanket, and now it's a nice dark busy tablecloth that doesn't show the mess.  Sisters-let me know if I need to give it back.  :)

I think Abby's taking Anna's twin bed to college.  I figure if it's leaving in August, there's no sense moving it to the basement for two months, so we're just living around it.  Sometimes lazy=happy.

Anna's been changing the greeting every few days.  I think we're on "Guten tag" today.  

I had to read this for my children't lit class.  So many ranty things to say about it.  At the very least, I don't think filthy language is necessary, just lazy, and kids deserve original plot just as much as the rest of us.  What makes me crazy is that when people list their favorite books, they are always the great ones-Little House on the Prairie, Anne, Around the World in 80 Days, Ramona, The Boxcar Children-and none of these resorted to using hot button issues in the news to be controversial and "interesting" to the kids of the day.  So why do we underestimate kids now?  I wish I were a writer sometimes, but I don't want to be one.  

Going to town for the day involves so much planning!  And six bags.  If we have something in town in the morning, and something else in the afternoon, it doesn't make sense to go back and forth so--  We need the swimming suits and towels, the library books and all of the papers for Summer Reading, and jammies to change into after lessons, and any papers for errands that need to be run, and a textbook to read during naps, and blankies for naps...  *sigh*  You'd think with all of this practice, I'd start to enjoy thinking ahead, but not yet.  It just makes me feel crazy.  

But then we go to the pool, and everything is beautiful.  Golly, I love Summer.

Six years

Six years since I first woke up in a world without my Mama.  I think all of the people who said all of the things were mostly right.  It does take a long long time, and you have to be patient, and eventually thinking about her makes you sad and happy and not just sad, and through some mystery, the missing increases but hurts less.  

And I still think I see her, across the park or the church, but it makes me smile now, and reminds me that I'm always looking for her, still.  It takes some of the pressure off of being a Mom, I think.  Because I know she wasn't perfect, and I know nothing could matter less.  She's everything because she's my Mom.  So I just have to do my best, and I really can't screw it up.  I'm everything anyway.    

And someday I'll look across the clouds and there she'll be.  For real.  

A poem from Dad

 What Is So Rare As A Day in June

AND what is so rare as a day in June?

Then, if ever, come perfect days;

Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune,

And over it softly her warm ear lays;

Whether we look, or whether we listen,

We hear life murmur, or see it glisten;

Every clod feels a stir of might,

An instinct within it that reaches and towers,

And, groping blindly above it for light,

Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers;

The flush of life may well be seen

Thrilling back over hills and valleys;

The cowslip startles in meadows green,

The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice,

And there's never a leaf nor a blade too mean

To be some happy creature's palace;

The little bird sits at his door in the sun,

Atilt like a blossom among the leaves,

And lets his illumined being o'errun

With the deluge of summer it receives;

His mate feels the eggs beneath her wings,

And the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings;

He sings to the wide world, and she to her nest,-

In the nice ear of Nature which song is the best?

Now is the high-tide of the year,

And whatever of life hath ebbed away

Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer,

Into every bare inlet and creek and bay;

Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it,

We are happy now because God wills it;

No matter how barren the past may have been,

'Tis enough for us now that the leaves are green;

We sit in the warm shade and feel right well

How the sap creeps up and the blossoms swell;

We may shut our eyes but we cannot help knowing

That skies are clear and grass is growing;

The breeze comes whispering in our ear,

That dandelions are blossoming near,

That maize has sprouted, that streams are flowing,

That the river is bluer than the sky,

That the robin is plastering his house hard by;

And if the breeze kept the good news back,

For our couriers we should not lack;

We could guess it all by yon heifer's lowing,-

And hark! How clear bold chanticleer,

Warmed with the new wine of the year,

Tells all in his lusty crowing!

Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how;

Everything is happy now,

Everything is upward striving;

'Tis as easy now for the heart to be true

As for grass to be green or skies to be blue,-

'Tis for the natural way of living:

Who knows whither the clouds have fled?

In the unscarred heaven they leave not wake,

And the eyes forget the tears they have shed,

The heart forgets its sorrow and ache;

The soul partakes the season's youth,

And the sulphurous rifts of passion and woe

Lie deep 'neath a silence pure and smooth,

Like burnt-out craters healed with snow.

James Russell Lowell

Victory and Defeat

In Goodwill related news...here's a great victory for the part of me that says "If you love it, you should get it, you'll figure out a use for it some day" and a terrible defeat for the rational "stop buying stuff!" part of me.  

I bought this blanket years ago, it's one of those old, hotel sort of strange bedspreads with the weird polyester on the back, but I just loved this bright summery flower pattern.  I had no idea what to do with it but it made me smile.  I walked away from it several times but kept going back.  It sat in the basement in a sack for a long time.

But then MJL and I were discussing how the down comforter was really way too warm for the summer and I wanted to make a quilt but I don't have time right now to make a quilt and besides I couldn't get it done that fast anyway.  I remembered this blanket and it fit!  So now my happy blanket makes me happy every day and we're not alternately roasting and freezing as we put the comforter off and on all night.  Hooray!

Where do you fall on the spectrum?  When in doubt-buy it or leave it?

Almost a Librarian

My last class started this week!

I take the certification test this weekend.  I took the practice test online and got them all right but this one:

4. A library media center uses parent volunteers
to perform a variety of tasks relating to the
school library program. Which of the following
considerations is most likely to ensure an
effective result from a parent volunteer
program?

(A) Volunteers are expected to be present on
specified days of the week at specified
times.
(B) Volunteers are assigned staff members
to work with who supervise their
activities and provide direction.
(C) Volunteers are permitted to take work
off-site in order to complete it.
(D) Volunteers have prior experience working
in a library-related field.
(E) Volunteers are given the freedom to
select or reject duties at their discretion.

Here's a hint-you have to remember not to answer like a normal human, but like a librarian (very concerned with detail and getting things exactly right).

Cover Ups!

I found this fabric at Goodwill this Spring and instantly knew I wanted to make cover ups out of it.  It's kind of a super light terry cloth.

But that's crazy!  Who has time to make cover ups?  Not the girl who was behind on everything, including her class and her job and her house and her life.

But I got it anyway because it was $2.00 and dreams are important.

I spent the next few bath times perusing patterns and tutorials online and thinking about what to do.  (I mostly play on Pinterest while the kids are in the bath.  I look forward to it so much!)  

And somehow, after the class was done and the office tidied, I started cutting and sewing and a week later they were all done!

We tried them out last week.  They all have hoods, but Anna's is sleeveless.  Not quite enough fabric, and I didn't think she'd be as cold as the little ones.  

 Lately when I ask Katie to smile she says "Let's make a sad face instead."  

I used this pattern for all three, just lengthening and biggering for Anna's and kind of fudging on the hood.  

Yay for Summer!  

IMHO

I have a lot of opinions.  While I'm loading the dishwasher or brushing my teeth, I like to think about the world, and come up with reasons for the way things are.  I come up with grand speeches about any number of things.  I'm tempted to list them, because then you might ask me about them and I could try one out-but I suspect that's not actually good for me, or good for anyone else.

I found this quote last week, and it's been rolling around in my mind ever since.

(In English-"The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.")

I just really love that.

Have you found anything lately that hit you right between the eyeballs?

Library Wrap Up

Year two of being a librarian and I think that I can say (though it feels disloyal) that I like being a librarian even more than I liked being a Spanish teacher.  I can't decide if that means it's a better fit, or if it is just that it is much easier to teach children when you are all speaking the same language.  Anyway, I love it.

This semester we circulated 30,085 books!  We had amazing parent volunteers who came to the school in the afternoons to shelve books and have a checkout time for kids.  I even had two parents who came and helped me do inventory of all 8,000 books in the last week of school.  I was nervous about losing our Para this year, but our parents really filled the gap.  

I read 603 picture books and 36 chapter books.  I learned that I need to have a concrete goal or I won't find time to read.

The Spring Reading Party was "Origamirama" and 36 kids earned a ticket.  We made Origami boxes with lids and made candy sushi to put inside the boxes.  The kids loved it.  One 2nd grader even showed his box the next week at 4-H for his project talk because he thought it was "the coolest thing he had ever made"  because "it didn't even use tape to hold it together".    

I saw the Roald Dahl's Miss Honey Social Justice Award when it was announced at the end of March and decided at that moment that we'd figure out some kind of project to enter, and since I have wonderful teachers to work with, we did a month long festival of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory activities that culminated with a week of making blankets for babies in Ecuador.  A rowing friend from KSU lives and works in Ecuador, and she allowed us to partner with her.  She works with women who are in jail, who keep their children with them until they are two years old.  Our kids got really excited about making blankets for these babies, and made 13 tied fleece blankets and 22 embroidered flannel blankets.  Even if we don't win the fabulous prizes, the kids learned how to embroider, how to think a little about the rest of the world, and some little babies got something soft to hold.  

And now HERE'S TO SUMMER!!!!!

Jimmy and Katie play nicely for a moment

Insanity: Summer 2014 Edition

I've been frustrated in my attempts to make a Summer Schedule because there are so many variables, so I thought I would try a weekly schedule instead.  

It just made me feel crazy!  Here's the first week:

Summer 2014 Schedule:  May 25 - June 1

6:00 -- Up, Shower, Dress

6:45 -- Breakfast, prep day, kids breakfast, Anna work animals with Daddy.

7:30 -- Kids up, dress, eat, clean up.

8:30 – Go to Pierceville VBS

          Mama and Jimmy run errands in town.

12:00 -- Make lunch and lunches, eat and deliver

1:00 -- naps K and J, A free time.

3:00 -- Up and pool clothes

3:30 – Swim

4:30 – Sno Cones

6:00 -- Home and dinner/dinners

7:00 -- Chores and piano

8:00 -- Play outside

9:00 -- Kids Bed

10:30 -- Bed

Monday:  Memorial Day-Concert at 12:00 at Cemetery

Tuesday-Thursday: VBS

Wednesday:  Piano Lesson 6:30

Thursday:  Anna to TX with Grandma. 

Friday:  Municipal Band 7:30

Saturday:  Betsy and Anna go to Church 5:30

Sunday:  Betsy and Anna 4-H Concession Stand 10:00 am - 12:00 pm

And the second week isn't better at all!

Summer 2014 Schedule:  June 1 – June 7

6:00 -- Up, Shower, Dress

6:45 -- Breakfast, prep day, kids breakfast, Anna work animals with Daddy.

7:30 -- Kids up, dress, eat, clean up.

8:30 – Garden, mow, play outside.

12:00 -- Make lunch and lunches, eat and deliver

1:00 -- naps K and J, A free time.

3:00 -- Up and pool clothes

3:30 – Swim

4:30 – Sno Cones

6:00 -- Home and dinner/dinners

7:00 -- Chores and piano

8:00 -- Play outside

9:00 -- Kids Bed

10:30 -- Bed

Sunday:  Betsy and Anna 4-H Concession Stand 10:00 am - 12:00

Monday:  Betsy’s Class Begins

Tuesday:  Anna Archery 10:00 am Big Pool,  Sign up for Summer Reading, Water Aerobics 6:15-kids to Poppa 6:00.

Wednesday:  Piano Lesson 6:30

Thursday:  W. A. 6:15-kids to Poppa 6:00 

Friday:  Municipal Band 7:30

Saturday:  BETSY PRAXIS TEST 7:30 AM BE EARLY!!!  Double check ID, etc.

AND it occurs to me that I ought to schedule in when we're going to work on Anna's 4H projects, because she picked such hard dresses to make....  I don't know what to do.  It's not like we follow these closely, but it really helps me to remember things like dinner if I have a schedule.  I got completely stuck on week 4, there's no time for dinner in there at all!  :/

Is this normal???

Rain

I heard this song on the radio last week and it made me cry.  We need some of this.



I keep listening to it.  Like a prayer.

Nine

This darling girl is nine years old.  

Parties have been big in her class this year so she asked if she could have one for the 3rd grade girls.  

We did it at the arts center, where the girls all got to make a 3D sculpture and paint it.  It was really fun and I think everyone had a fantastic time.  

She's always smiling in the chaos.  Nine years is halfway.  It makes me ache.  We're so thankful for our precious sweet big girl.  

Matchy Matchy

Anna picked out this fabric for her Birthday dress and oh so generously allowed me to use the same pattern I've been using to make her dresses for the last 6 years.  Simplicity 5226  I think I've made it almost 10 times now.  

But it's perfect and lovely!  I made dresses for both girls.  

And a tie for Mr. Jimmy using this tutorial.  Here he spotted a tractor driving down our road.  

I had to get pictures right away.  MJL was busy working so these are mostly taken with me standing on a ladder throwing a ball up and down with one hand while trying to take the pictures with the other.  

He looks like such a little man here.  

I remind myself to be happy with anything that works, picture wise.  I don't know how much longer I'll be able to dress them up in matching outfits.  I know there are 4th graders whose parents still do, so at least one more year, right?  Aren't they sweet?

Serger victory

A few years ago MJL got me a serger, but then at some point children messed with it and it got unthreaded and crazy and it made me frustrated and sometimes I cried and it just wouldn't work and I was really upset about it.  I was going to take it when I went to see my aunts at Christmas, and then again at rescheduled Christmas, but we had sicky children.  

But my very favorite napkins in the whole world were falling apart, and not just looking bad, but actually fraying to bits because the serging had come off and I had to fix them.  (As a side note-if you ever see a set of Vera napkins (like this) at a thrift store-YOU SHOULD BUY THEM!  I got these at Goodwill and I think it's not an exaggeration to say they'd been washed at least 500 times before the serging started to come out. (10 years, twice a week?)  They never wrinkle, they don't stain, they're just lovely and perfect. If you don't want them, buy them and send them to me.  

Anyhoo-It was hard and scary to cut off the frayed edges and the remaining serged bits, and it occurred to me that I was hurting their "value" by doing this-and then I rolled my eyes at myself and sternly reminded ridiculous Betsy that their "value" was in being used and loved every day.  Sheesh.  

And I sat down with the book and the serger one more time and went through each and every step slowly and carefully and I fixed it!  I got it working!  So exciting.  

Here they are!  I didn't buy yellow thread but the white is just fine (she reminds herself with another eye roll).

Hooray!

 

Mending Basket

I finally finished the mending basket!  It really only took three days, but it took over a year of procrastinating, so it seemed like longer.  I cleaned the office and then tacked the basket, taking pictures to keep myself motivated.  

I taped up this tractor book which was destroyed.  

I 

I realized that I needed steam to fuse the fleece to these little pants I was fixing, but I didn't want to go upstairs.  So I used ice from my juice.  Isn't that lazy creative?

Here are the little pants.  Part of a set of jammies my Mom made for Anna.  I wasn't sure how to fix the three holes, so I just fused some fleece patches on the inside and then zig-zagged over the tear.  It seems to be holding for now.  

These pajama pants ripped the very first time they were worn!  This is a terrible fix but honestly-they're jammies.  There were more projects too, but I didn't think of the motivational documentation until the third day.  

And it's not mending, but I also got EVERYTHING that had been accumulating to be mailed and got it boxed up and sent out.  I always forget that the Oklahoma kids finish college early, so their box missed finals week, but I guess was a good "You're all done!" kind of present.  

Getting that all done feels so good!  Only one more class this summer!  I wonder if having the extra time will always feel nice, or if I'll get all used to it and forget what it was like to have to take classes in my "free time".  I hope it's a lasting thankfulness, like I have for the working washer and dryer.  

Bed in Summer

 

I remember pulling the book "A Child's Garden of Verses" from the shelf and reading this poem when I was in bed and it was light outside, just to console myself that it was a universal problem.

Every year at this time I wish I had it memorized so that I could recite it to Katie when she explains to me that it can't be bed time, because it's not dark yet.

I have it hanging up this year, and I'm working on it...

Beautiful Christmas

I have been trying to figure out why dozens of strangers started following my Beautiful Christmas board on Pinterest and then I got this email.

Good news! Your board is now being featured onPinterest.

Hi there, One of your boards has been picked to be one of the recommended boards for new Pinners to follow when they first sign up for Pinterest. What this means: we think your board is amazing, and it really demonstrates what Pinterest is all about! Also you might notice a bunch of new people following your board for the next little while. Thanks for Pinning with us, - The Pinterest Community Team Get back to Pinning

It makes me giggle.  I think that this board is the silliest and least practical of all of my boards.  It's just pictures of old cards and other Christmas things that make me smile and sigh a happy sigh.  

The internet is a funny place.  Here's the board if you're curious.  

Follow Betsy's board Beautiful Christmas on Pinterest.

B-B-B-Budget

We going to try to be big kids starting this month.  We've never had a written down, categorized, stick to it kind of budget.   Partly because it's very hard with a farm, and partly because we didn't want to have money be the driving factor in our decision making, and partly because we have very heartily resisted growing up in all forms and hang on to any kind of irresponsibility we can get away with.  Look how cute we were 14 years ago.  Do those kids look responsible?

I've kept track of everything in Quicken for years, and so I knew where our money was going, and in looking at everything closely, it seems like our general policy of "just be frugal but don't be crazy" has worked pretty well.  Our one extravagance, which is no surprise to anyone, is eating out.

We eat out a lot because it's MJL's favorite thing to do and my favorite thing is when he's happy.  And because of the perfect storm of living 20 minutes from town, having people in the family who MUST EAT WHEN THEY ARE HUNGRY OR ELSE (that's not me.  I easily forget to eat when I'm on my own.)  and the fact that I'm super bad at planning ahead.  So instead of looking at the day and thinking "OK, we have to be in town at 6:30, so we need to leave the house at 6:00, so we need to eat at 5:15, so I need to think about dinner and get started right after school"-I look at the clock at 5:45 and think "Good job, Betsy!  You thought about leaving the house WAY early!  We're totally going to be on time! (no we're not)  And then I remember about food and we're sunk and end up eating in the car on the way to or from something.

But we sat down and made a budget and we're starting small, with just a little cut here and there.  I mostly just want to try to think ahead a bit more.   Just a touch, because I love living here by the seat of my pants.

This post is boring.  Here are two things I saw online today.

A post about wind and drought.

Making rope from fabric scraps!