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!

Ingleside 4/26/14

So much going on around here!

I think I've finally decided to quit being so crazy and let these two watch a show while I make dinner.  I remembered the other day that Abby watched TV all the time while Mom was in the kitchen, and look how she turned out.  

My favorite way to clean up the kitchen is to ask MJL to make some cookies.  I don't mind cleaning up if I have company, and he doesn't mind making us treats.  This week it was Grandma Anna's cornflake cookies.  

This girl has been unbelievably helpful lately.  Almost 9.  

Looks like we forgot to water the basil.  We'll try again in the summer!

This little girl changed her mind about going potty.  "I'm not big, Mama."

She also broke the doorknob and can get out of the house on her own.  She goes to visit the goats or find Daddy and agrees that she NEEDS to tell someone before she leaves the house, but doesn't actually do it.  

Anna's banner!  

We got these flowers from church on Easter Vigil.  Does anyone know what they are?  They don't have a little tag or label or anything.  They're really pretty.  

I like blogging-but rarely find time to get down here to my computer these days.  Happy Easter!

Good Friday

Holy Week

It's Holy Week!

I'm excited because this year we're going to all of the Holy Week services, starting with Holy Thursday tomorrow night, and then Good Friday, and Easter Vigil on Saturday night.  Easter Vigil is my favorite thing ever.  It's so Easter-y!

We finally made it to Stations of the Cross last Friday night.  I'm always glad when we do, it's a lovely meditation--here's a nice virtual one, about 30 minutes long all together.

Do you follow @hiphopaugustine?  He makes me laugh so much.

Holy Week comin soon 
I be like BOOYAH 
joinin the angelic choir 
beltin ALLELUIA

This story about a sweet baby in the NICU and answered prayer made me happy cry.  And MJL got me her book, which means I got the free download of the ebook and I LOVED IT!  He rolls his eyes a lot at me now because I keep making the family talk through the "action steps" in the book-but I love thinking through things and building systems!  And I love having goals!  And I love being intentional instead of just floating through!  It's really a perfect book for me.  

And did you catch these pictures of my adorable babies?  Thanks Sarah!

Hampshire Jersey

I stopped following the Free Range Kids blog because most of the stories were negative examples of why the world is going crazy, and while I very very much agree with the idea that kids should roam around and do stuff, I'd rather see examples of the positive.

A week or so ago I read (OK, skimmed) this article about "The Land" a kind of wild junkyard playground in North Wales.  The whole thing is strange and fascinating.  I'm drawn to things like this-stories about the trouble and adventures that kids used to have.  Kids love things like this-My Side of the Mountain, the first Boxcar Children book, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, all of these are fantastic books about kids on their own.  Oh!  And Roxaboxen!

That's one of the reasons I don't go into Hampshire Jersey, the secret land the children are creating behind the chemical tanks in the cedar trees.   I'm sure there are lots of wonderful and dangerous things happening, and I choose to believe they're not REALLY that dangerous.  They haul old metal and bits of treasure from the junk piles and build things and have fights and compromise.   

Also whenever I go in there I get jabbed in the head with branches.  It's really just the right size for little people.  I had "The Shop", a place under a big tree in the back yard which I was constantly rearranging and changing into new things.  Some of my best childhood memories are from cleaning up the shop.  How about you?  Did you have a place to call your own?  Do your kids have one now?  Do you think I'm just asking for trouble?

Happy Birthday

It's my Birthday!  Here are some ridiculous things that I may be hoping for this year.

1.  Zentangle Kit:  Have you heard about zentangles?  Little paper tiles that you fill up with doodles, repeating designs and colors.  This kit is ludicrously expensive, and I think could be put together for much cheaper by buying the individual pieces.  Doesn't it look fun and relaxing?


http://sarasoulsister13.deviantart.com/art/Teardrop-Zentangle-Doodle-348814784

2.  Betsyann.com  Did you know my name is a chocolate website?  Wouldn't that be a fun treat?

3.  Long naps-for Katie and Jimmy-so that I can do some projects.

4.  The time/money/wherewithal to redo my pantry.  I suspect that there is a lot of wasted space there.  I dream of hard shelves, and many of them, and a step stool and beautiful matching containers.  Not super de duper fancy-not this


http://www.shorewest.com/blog/4-smarter-ways-to-remodel-your-home/

Just some hard shelves so things don't fall through, and some additional shelves for stacking on the shelves, and no more things stacked on the floor and falling over and making it hard to shut the door.

5.  The pre-order for Something Other than God by my favorite stranger blogger, because then I also get the free e-book The Family First Creative.

6.  But mostly mostly mostly, just happy and healthy family and friends, and an appreciation for this beautiful life.  I want to "realize life as I live it" as Emily says in "Our Town"--This homily brought tears to my eyes, and an ache to live as much as I can while I can.

Happy day to me!  And to you!  And to life!

graze box

I can't remember where I saw graze.com-something somewhere advertised a free box and it sounded like fun.  They send snacks through the mail.  You can get on the website and pick the things that sound good to you and nix the ones that don't.  It's a subscription service-they want you to get a box every two weeks, for $6.00 a box.  

It's expensive and there's no way I can justify anything more than the free box, but the snacks were SO GOOD I thought the least I could do was plug them in case one of you has a larger snack budget than I do.  I took mine to school and I have really enjoyed all of my snacks. 

These are the snacks that I got -  the "garden of england" and "hot cross yum" both had dried fruit and candied nuts.   Honestly super delicious, and just the right size.    

Sorry, graze.com!  Maybe someday I'll be richer.  :)

Grrr *sigh*

I bought these three books because they were on sale and since we're a country school, I think it's important we have a good agriculture section.  The kids love ag books. 

They claim to be informational books, but the slant in them is incredible.  Everything about farming is very negative, with no balanced opinions or solutions presented, other than this one small inset saying that one study found that organic farming could feed the word. 

It gets worse!  Can you read the last line of this snippet about GM crops and seeds?  A complex issue involving emerging technology, intellectual property, copyright, etc.  

"This is so that the companies can sell more seeds and become richer."

Gah! 

 Our farm families will definitely take issue with this.  If it were a balanced portrayal I wouldn't mind so much but this is pure propaganda.  I didn't read the books until they were already stamped so I think I'm stuck with them.  I'm glad they were on sale.  I'm considering putting a note in the front of the book describing the bias and asking students to look for it, at the very least then I would have stated that I know it's slanted and that they should not read it as truth. 

I can't read every book before I buy it!  How do I avoid this problem in the future? 

Or do you think I'm overreacting?

TV TV TV and being old

We've been really loving watching The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.  He's so funny! And nice!  I know, we don't really know him, but on the show, he SEEMS so genuinely nice.  And so I choose to believe it.  That he's really actually truly nice and anyway it makes MJL laugh before he goes to sleep and there is nothing in the world better than that.




But we're too old and tired to stay up that late to watch it so we've been taping it and watching it the next day, earlier, and then going to sleep.

Both things; watching the Tonight Show, and going to bed early, make me feel old, but in a happy kind of way.

Do you have anything that makes you feel old, and good about it?

Pod Activities

I had a post request!  Isn't that crazy?  For ideas of things to do in the pod.  WE LOVE THE POD!  We use it all the time.

• Playing in the sink.  With duckies, or cups, or bowls, or washing plastic dishes, or washing the tea set or playing in bubbles, or with warm water or cold water or with ice.  

• Playing with play dough.  We really like this recipe-I made it a month ago in three colors, I just give the kids a hunk out of the fridge of whatever colors they ask for, and then they play with it and mix it all up and I don't feel bad throwing it away when we're done.  We still have lots left.  

• With the play dough, we use knives, or scissors to cut it, or cookie cutters and rollers, or beads to poke into it, or toothpicks and beads, or raw spaghetti and beads--whatever random thing I can come up with to make it a little bit new.  
• Ice and cups and bowls and water and spoons.  Katie and Jimmy both love measuring out ice and water and spooning it around and mixing it up.  
• Putting away the silverware from the dishwasher.  Great sorting activity and fun first chore.
• Katie's been really into cutting and gluing lately, so there have been lots of projects with paper to cut and clue to cardboard.  All sorts of paper are fun to cut-newspaper, ads, construction paper, coupons, catalogs, and all sorts of ribbons.  I've been thinking we need to try cutting straws (bonus-beads to string when she's done!) and Styrofoam trays (run them through the dishwasher first).  We've been using a lot of glue.  I've contemplated mixing up some flour and water paste and putting into a glue bottle, but surely glue's not expensive and we're not quite out yet.  
• Little animals in the play dough too- and we played with little animals in the snow that we brought inside, and with the snow dough that we made.  We did this one which was corn starch and oil and glitter but it didn't hold together that well and wasn't super fun.  

  We also made this one of corn starch and shaving cream and it was really really fun but

OH MY GOODNESS the mess was amazing and incredible.  I was so thankful MJL was home to bathe the kiddos while I cleaned up the mess.  

• We also like to paint with water and paint with watercolors.  Those wooden trays that Melissa and Doug toys come in are great for watercolors, they soak up the paint nicely and go right back to being used.  Acrylic painting is best done with better supervision than I provided on this day.  Rocks are great things to paint.  

• I keep trying to interest Katie into sorting beads into a muffin tray but that is a big no. 
• I want to get them both into helping more with dinner, but so far scrubbing potatoes is the only thing they've done.  

How's that for a list?  Got some more ideas for me?

Chapter Books: The A's

I'm reading Chapter Books this semester and it's going SO SLOWLY.  I just cannot fly through these like picture books.  The kids are a little disappointed in me and I think I've learned that I have to have a concrete goal.  I can't just "See how many I can read in a semester".  I need the push of keeping up with something.  

But the point of it all is for me to read the books, and for kids to see me reading, and the kids are definitely checking out books off of the "What Mrs. L. is reading..." shelf so I'll call it a win, if a slow one.  

I thought this one was hilarious and had a nice, "be yourself and be nice to others and give people the benefit of the doubt" kind of message.  A little talk of boys and girls but not much.  I got the rest of the books in the series and the kids are eating them up.  WIN!  (And-checking out origami books too, which warms my little crafty heart).

This won the Newbery award last year, and I've heard and heard about it, so I was eager to read it.  It was good.  I'm not a huge animal fan in the first place, but for those kids who are, it'll be great.  I'll keep recommending it.  

This one was my absolute favorite.  It suffers from a TERRIBLE cover.  I can't sell it to anyone, even when I tell them it was my favorite of all the A's.  I finally talked a 4th grader into it and she said she liked it, but that she found it hard to follow.  I made MJL read it and he loved it too.  You should all check it out.  I don't think Anna's read it yet, I'll try to get her review.  It's about a refugee from Africa who's adapting to life in Minnesota.  

Only one book from the A's which I think I'm going to weed out- just poorly written and doesn't contribute anything new to the giant genre of pioneer stories and it's a paperback and no one's checked it out in years.  

On to the B's!

Math Games

I like to play word games, like Bananagrams and Snatch-It (though I'm a little too competitive with Snatch-It) and Scrabble, and MJL often says that if we could find a fast math game, it would be a little more fair.  

I found this one called "24" and he and Anna and I played it one snowy day during naps.  

You can add, subtract, multiply, and divide and you want to get to 24.  Everyone looks at the card and races to find the solution.  There's more than one way to solve each one.  For the card above, you can just add all four numbers:  6 + 7 + 6 + 5 = 24 

This one is 8-5 is 3, plus 1 is 4, x 6 = 24

  

This one none of us has figured out!  We've had it hanging on the fridge for 3 weeks now.  Any help?

Spring List!

Winter 2014:

1.  LIBR 859--My practicum.  I could get it done by March, if I hustle, and then I'd have a nice long break again.  I would love to do that.  Not at all done.  But 1/2 done?  It's not bad, just annoying.
2.  Potty Train Katie.  She mostly did this herself.  I feel bad taking credit.  But it's done anyway!  (or kind of-she wants to wear diapers at the moment, but I'm telling myself it's just a strange phase and not to even think about it.  
3.  Make something with Anna.  Snuggle her and talk to her and try not to hurry her so much. Just thinking about this has really helped.  
4.  Get back to my weekly routine.  Yes!  With some sliding here and there, but who cares?  :)
5.  Make those things for MJL.  Done and given and happy all around.
6.  Mending Basket.  (it's toppling full-mending is not my favorite but it should go fast)   I did some mending, but not all of it.  :/
7.  Use nap time to do things that make me happy (or work on my class).  I think mostly yes.  
8.  Valentines Boxes to College Kids.  Hooray!  
9.  Make another postage stamp block.   It's a bit smaller though.  I can't figure out if I just went too fast or if I cut the squares too small.  we'll see what happens with the next one, I guess!
10.  Work on Jairus' skunk.   Poor skunk.  

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.
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.  

I wanted to limit myself to 10 things a season, but I can't think of what to eliminate.  So I'm not going to worry about that.  

Happy Spring!  Soon I'll go to school in the light, and won't that be glorious?!?!

The scariest part

I really love my new job as a librarian, but there's one part of the job that makes my hands shake and my heart pound.  

It's when I put the new books into the computer.  What if no one reads them?  

I feel all excited when I'm ordering, but then they come, and it's $1700 worth of books.  Doesn't it seem like a small pile for that much money?  

It's terrifying, but next week the books go out on the shelves.  Here's hoping I chose well!  

Ash Wednesday 2014

It's been a couple of years since I posted this one-it's still the best thing I can find.

Lent 2014

I always want to plan a million things to do for Lent, but this year my word is "less" so I'm trying to remember that.

I'm going to get up a little early each day to make time for morning prayers.

The nights when we're home for dinner we'll light one purple candle and read this Peeking Through the Palms booklet that Grandma Joan gave us last year and we'll sing this song together with Daddy playing guitar.



Anna's going to try to be nicer to Katie.  :)

What are your plans for Lent?