Little House Mouse

mousetraps and other cleverness

2010-12-05T16:44:00.001-05:00

little banner on my living room wall

" free space heater" also.. "why didn't I think of this earlier". No, i didn't turn on the oven JUST to heat up the house (but it certainly doesn't take much for me to turn it on these days), I figured why waste the heat once I was done cooking.

I've also been making things for/rearranging/decorating my house- mostly off of cool ideas from the internets, with some creativity thrown in for good measure. I found this awesome frame with an ok picture in it.. and swapped it for this quick DIY image. That's a picture of my great grandmother at my age... but it could be me. I can't bear yet to poke too many holes in my beautiful new walls, so for now it'll stay on top of the shelf.

Here is my new studio space- rearranged and re-decorated again. I went "shopping" for that board in my attic (which has a mishmash of wood pieces for a floor, including old doors and trim). I'm pretty excited to have more flat work space. I also discovered the (gross orange) carpet is only laid down on top of the floor, no staples, but is covering old linoleum on my wood floors. sigh.

I also used some of the chalkboard paint I bought for school to make my own kitchen chalkboard, and a project chalkboard square in my new basement workspace. I just painted over the glass of a thrift store frame.

Speaking of thrift stores, I was SO lucky yesterday on my thrifting adventures.
Here's my list of treasures:
4 red curtains for dining room
2 gold curtains for dining room
pair of adorable pajamas for winter and summer
beautiful black shirt/dress
swiffer
shoe rack
awesome frames
yellow vase
pine candle
tall warm boot socks
a wooden farm box! I really can not believe I found this and only for $3!!!

it's just perfect for the farm materials!! I about fainted in the store.

And in other news from school- We are chugging along, it's a bumpy ride sometime, but we are moving forward. On Monday, it was so quiet in the afternoon, our friendly classroom mice, who usually wait until it's just me to show themselves, made an exception, which immediately ended any chance for a normal afternoon. Thinking fast, I told them the mouse would not come back if they were loud and/or moved (true!), and then I suggested we all make mouse traps. Out of cardboard and pipecleaners.

haha. Sadly, they have not caught our little friends yet.

Stay tuned for upcoming sewing projects and more house renovations!

dreaming...

2010-11-20T19:25:00.000-05:00

Oh where has the time gone? This past week was 3 months that I've been here in the little red house. There have been many changes- and some changes that are long overdo! Today I finally caved and got bamboo roman shades for my front windows, which I barely got up before it got dark. I finally gave up on the hooks that came with them and just put in nails. I'm sure my neighbors have thought "who is that crazy lady standing inside her windows?", but all is well now. Sadly, the shades are still transparent enough from the street that I'm going to need to add some curtains- but I can manage that. It makes a huge difference in here! I'm also on my 3rd? 4th? furniture arrangement. Pictures to come when I have new, beautiful light.

So now that I'm used to the space and have my share of ideas/ complaints, here are a selection of dreams in the form of pictures in my house plans folder!

embroidery hoops with fabric swatches! Definitely sewing studio wall art.

bedroom built ins! I have not closets, and so this solves that while still keeping in the style of my house.


http://www.younghouselove.com/2009/05/our-cheap-o-patio-makeover/

I am so doing this patio in the spring. LOVE the fire pit!

oh. my. goodness. This is the best pantry ever- and would actually work for my wonky hallway-ish area.

so beautiful!

That's all I got for now. I also picked up some paint swatches at Lowes today- hopefully painting next weekend!

October!

2010-10-03T12:50:00.000-04:00

Welcome October, chilly evenings, blankets, crunchy leaves, hot cider, and pumpkins! You snuck up on me.

It's been busy around here. My schoolwork pile is threatening to rise up and grow arms to strangle me. We had a bit of a hurricane blow through here last week, leaving me a tiny flood in my basement. But nothing we can't handle! The wet/dry vac and I (who I am now calling r2-d2) had a disagreement; I asked him to vacuum up the water, he spat it back in my face. But, I won and got most of the water up.

In more exciting news, it's finally cold enough to turn on my oven! I've been starting to do some baking, including my first challah bread. MMM! quite good, and definitely filling. I made some into french toast this morning, also delish.

I made a beef stew yesterday as well, which turned out very delicious. As soon as I go get some pumpkin, I'll make some pumpkin bread or scones... and maybe a pie. Speaking of pumpkin, I have one on my porch, which I noticed yesterday now has a bite out of it. Really? There isn't enough other food that animals need to eat my pumpkin? That's never happened to me before.
I went out looking for good thrift stores in the B-more area yesterday, and found two decent ones, and a yard sale. I did find some good things, but sadly not the things I really needed to find. My favourites were a present for my mom (i know she reads this, so stay tuned), orange glass jars, and these window clings:

haha, they make me laugh! Perhaps I'll go find the rest of my halloween decorations in the attic...

hello again!

2010-09-19T21:39:00.000-04:00

So, wow. It's been a crazy month. I moved, set up a classroom, started children, got new ones, tore apart my bedroom, and I'm finally settling down to breathe again.

Look at these awesome packing skills! I do think this is the last time I'll go the DIY route for moving.
Funny thing is, even though I had a full truck, my house is still (mostly) empty...

Here's a glimpse of the construction, more on that when the project finishes...

Another project. There had been a ramp here, which we (wrestled with) took out, carried across the street to my neighbor's house, and then realized the steps underneath were super steep and dangerous. Dad and I went back to Lowes and got lumber, posts, and stringers. He built these in a (long) day, aren't they beautiful?!

Our classroom is off to a wonderful start (other than the mishap on Friday where my over the sink shelf fell out of the wall 15 minutes into our work cycle. That'll keep you on your toes. Sadly, many of the water glasses broke. Back to Ikea we go!) We've started cooking Fridays, which has been a huge hit with the afternoon children. Here we are making pesto with basil we planted last spring. This isn't the best picture, sorry.

I've also hosted two get-togethers here at my new house, and we are now starting potluck and game sundays! More to come about that. I'm so happy to finally have a place to invite people over and cook for them!!! This is my living room at the moment.

A proper house tour is on the way- current this-is-what-I can-do-now state. I'm excited to put some of my big ideas into action, and really make this place my own. Perhaps also a classroom tour?
Here's a picture of (part of) my craft studio space:

Hooray for unpacked fabric! I had so many boxes of fabric, and three boxes of unfinished projects. Geez. Hope I can share the finished results soon!

more things to love

2010-08-12T14:40:00.023-04:00

porch furniture from a log cabinish house in thurmont. Yes, they look cabin, but oh so comfy and inviting. Hello front porch!

the start of my thrifted tableware set- mismatched in all its glory.

stained glass window to go by the new front door. Dad and I went looking for one of these after some internet research, and were mostly unsuccessful until we were tipped off about this awesome place. We walked in, greeted by about a hundred of these windows. Not only did we find a perfect pattern for my 1924 craftsman house, we found three matching and chose the best one. I also decided to get a second for the back door area. What a find!

Family Summer party!

2010-08-11T14:36:00.000-04:00

Hello again. It seems this summer is slipping away... my life has been a bit shaken and upside down recently, and I'm starting a new chapter very soon! (exciting!)

Meanwhile, we had a family get-together this past weekend just because. I love my family. They are really funny and lots of fun. We had it at Mom and Dad's house, and i was in charge of decorating/food. While it all turned out pretty tasty, it was a bit of a fail in my book. Lesson learned: pan-frying cut up chicken for 14 people take a long time, and three eggplants for roasted vegetables are way too much! Also- pavlovas DO expand in the oven, and be sure to have the egg whites super stiff. Mine was soupy, and puffed up to the size of the baking sheet, not the nice circle I placed it in. However, everything was quite delicious (especially the pavlova!), and there were lots of leftovers.
I also made raspberry-mint lemonade using a simple syrup. Wow. Super easy, and super tasty.

yes, I'm still here...

2010-07-12T08:41:00.000-04:00

Just stopping in to let everyone know I'm still here. I'm currently working on larger things in my (real) life, and this space has been neglected. Things should settle down in september, and hopefully I'll sneak a few pictures in before then!
I got my vintage swap partner info today! More on that soon...

I'm also working on lots of things for my (not to distant) future classroom! I have been given the room I've been subbing in this past year, but gaining a new (awesome) assistant AND we moved upstairs. That's still a big job and currently my things are all pushed together in the middle of the room, semi-organized.

I've learned a lot over the past two years about what kinds of materials work and what I like, and I'm determined to start this year (mostly) prepared. My current projects are overhauling the reading system: handmade digital classified and reading 3 part cards, who am i? for different scientific and social categories, as well as pouches in matching fabric.
Also on the list are aprons for practical life and art activities (other than ones I made before, there's a sad shortage of these).

...oh, and I'm also buying this house and moving in August!

discoveries and inventions

2010-04-08T20:28:00.000-04:00

I've always been one for inventions. Ask my family. I'd often have some masking tape covered contraption, or some other new use for everyday objects. I love to discover these creative uses. Not only do I feel clever, I saw myself time/money/space/etc. One of the MANY cool things about my job and Montessori education is that this sort of creative invention/discovery is not only possible, but easy to do and encouraged for the children, and likewise the guide.
We just got back from spring break, and it's 90 degrees outside in a building with no AC, so I have a lot of cranky children in the afternoon. However, I found this awesome thing the other day:

I really had NOTHING to do with this (which is why it's awesome.) Yes, those are our glasses I have for children who forgot/don't have their water bottle filled with different heights of water. He might be matching them to the bells, or trying to match them to the song cards, I'm not sure.
Now, had I not stopped to see what was going on I could have quickly swooped over and put an end to this to protect the material from water damage. It would have been easy to do.
My assistant and I were talking about this line- when do we step in, and when do we wait and see? It's not always clear, even with training and experience. In this case, because this boy has extensive music background and is one of my oldest, I let him go while keeping an eye in case it got too out of control. I'm so glad I did.
I also finished (finally!) and put out updated, matching polishing activities- red, blue, yellow, and green. Sadly, I didn't take a picture, but expect one soon! I was super excited for this- I used polka dot fabric and bright colors so they look very cheery and inviting. So inviting in fact, my three year old boys who would rather chase each other asked me for a lesson on the "blue work". Wow. A good reminder that color coordination and beautiful packaging really is so enticing.

And for the invention of the week (quite possibly the year even...)

yep. a moveable alphabet of stamps. I found these in the craft store for a dollar. R stained the box for me, and my dad built the holding grid for me from an old backpacking contraption. I'm super excited.

Harrisonburg!

2010-04-04T21:43:00.000-04:00

So, as promised, here are some more pictures from my trip!

it's always a lovely day for a picnic with Anah! We had cheese quesadillas with salsa, fresh veggie crudites, and some of my turtle bars. Kristin would have joined us, but she couldn't make it to the backyard on crutches.

then it was time to dye easter eggs! We hard-boiled these early in the morning, so they were cool. This is a cool site to use for making hard (or soft) boiled eggs my brother told me about. I can't vouch for the videos they choose, but still a clever, fun idea.
Anah made egg dye from food coloring, water, and some vinegar.

here are our eggs all done!

And, you can't visit H-burg without a trip to Klines! This is perhaps the best soft serve ice cream I've ever had. Lucky me it was chocolate peanut butter this week.

mmm! Oh Harrisonburg, I miss you. I'll be back soon!

a good day

2010-04-03T12:50:00.000-04:00

I've moved a lot. This has both good and bad-I manage to lose things every time I move, and my friends now live across the county. However, I'm a pro at packing and navigating new towns, and I have the added benefit of several "hometowns". But perhaps the coolest thing is revisiting these places after some time has passed. One of my favourite places I've lived is Harrisonburg, VA during college. It's a cute little city tucked away in the Shenandoah Valley, in the shadow of Skyline Drive. They call it the friendly city- and that's no exaggeration. Anyways, the last time I was there was 2 years ago for a friend's wedding. Now that I'm not living 7 states away, I decided it was high time to go back and revisit.

It's funny how a place holds memories. I was surprised how well I could drive around without looking at a map. I couldn't have told you how I was going where I was going until I saw the turns. Also, I've had quite a trip down memory lane walking by signs, houses, benches, etc. Strange, uneventful memories that are fairly insignificant, but were apparently locked inside these objects. I guess this happens to me other places too, but there arn't so many memories tied to this town to muddy them up.

Also, it was GORGEOUS outside, so I went on a mile walk to meet my friend for lunch. It was wonderful- except my feet weren't quite ready for walking long distances in sandals, and I now have blisters on my feet. The bottom. Quite annoying.
I did see some lovely flowers ready for spring:

hope your weather is just as wonderful! I'm off to have a picnic and dye eggs!

weekend = love :)

2010-03-21T21:54:00.000-04:00

things I love:

warm spring weather
fresh flowers in my house
free Rita's Italian ice
sewing all day
hearing birds outside
clean sheets and pillows
sitting in the yard to do school planning
finding books i needed for free here
wearing dresses again

it's been a great weekend. What were you up to?

oh the things you can make...

2010-03-21T21:35:00.000-04:00

I was commissioned to make something for our spring silent auction "Great Food for Great Kids" to raise money for our nutrition program at school. We hope to provide healthy lunches for all the children next year, which would be awesome. many of our children are on a free or reduced lunch plan now, and have you seen the lunches they give these kids??? not spectacular. The program now allows older elem children to take turns preparing snack for the whole school, they deliver to each room and then clean-up before lunch. We are also planting many things for an edible garden. If your local, you should check it out, you could even buy one of these cute things:

the alligator cracks me up.

After pondering what to make that could be auctioned for a moderate amount of money (most of what I make is small and simple), and be made before wednesday, I settled on children's library bags! A great gift for any child in your life, complete with:

Library card pocket! I'm pretty sure I had a library bag as a kid, and it was a HUGE deal to have my own library card. Mom filled ours with awesome books, and later we filled our own. Just in time for summer!

Both bags are made of cotton, with flannel in between to help strengthen and stabilize. The appliques are made from cotton scraps, vintage buttons, and trims. yes, ric-rack for the alligators teeth. Both are completely washable.

so, I'm pretty proud of myself. can you tell? I'm curious to see what these go for. I think I'll start at $20 each.

Vintage swap: Winter 2010

2010-03-20T09:19:00.000-04:00

Well, this is long overdue, but better late than never right?
I love participating in these swaps, it's fun to search for someone else (a great excuse to go thrifting!), and then to get a package yourself full of fun things you would have picked out for yourself anyways!

such a big box! I love the paper crane as decoration on the note.

here is everything all unwrapped! There's some fun flower flannel fabric (say that ten times fast), a doiley, a cool old spice jar, two ornaments- sand dollar and a handmade paper star, some seeds, an old science puzzle book, a fabric basket book, stickers, origami paper, and some purple wool yarn and a crochet hook! wow!

As if that wasn't enough, I also found this inside the lovely card:

This looked like something to be tested (and eaten!) right away!

mmm! Thanks again Tracee for such wonderful things and for brightening my day! This recipe is superb, and also makes a good breakfast!

Hello again!

2010-03-06T10:04:00.000-05:00

wow...where did February go?

It's still been busy busy around here- we missed so much school I've been playing catch-up with lessons and it's back-from-break craziness all over again. sigh.
However, remember when I said I was waiting for exciting news (a month ago?) Well, it's official! I'm staying full-time in my classroom through the end of the year, and the lady I'm subbing for is coming back part time to help with subbing, etc. We basically swapped jobs. I'm super excited! (and thankfully so are the parents).
This does mean now I want to bring in my own things that have been patiently waiting to be used in boxes all this time... but I shall try to restrain myself.

In the midst of all this, I was able to capture a few moments of pure beauty, and see proof things are working:

This little boy is VERY hard to convince to do anything except art. I somehow managed to hook him into the reading classification cards, and he did ALL of them!
He was so proud too.

This started as a lesson for one boy, and the girls joined him to help with central america. It's great when cooperative work actually works!

In other news:

I've mailed off my package for the vintage swap, and I hear mine got mailed today. Pictures and excitement to come soon!!

I received the most awesome, inspiring book. I'd go so far as to say essential for anyone working in Montessori.

This is an awesome quick summary of Montessori from one of my favourite blog ladies, Meg.

Sorry this post is so scattered. I realized I haven't been taking pictures, which simply won't do. See you soon with more fun things to share!

busy mouse.

2010-02-17T08:21:00.000-05:00

it's been a long, unexpected vacation. We had a half day almost two weeks ago, and are just going back (late) this morning. As I never knew how many days we'd have off, I spend my time catching up on projects, or starting new ones! Here are some of my creations born of the blizzards of '10:

remember these hearts? I just stitched them together with silver thread on my machine. Quick, simple, beautiful.

two more aprons!

I know I showed you these already, but I made them better! Now the reading 3 part cards have labels for each category- why didn't someone think of this earlier?

and my favourite:

I got these shoes at Old Navy, I was in desperate need of some silver flats. However, I was unimpressed with the bow on here. bor-ring!

Ta-DA! So much better! I used my seam ripper to carefully unattach the old bow, then tied these silver ribbon bows. I also dug through my vintage button collection to find the perfect buttons- these rhinestone-y ones seemed to fit! I then carefully sewed on both ribbon and bow, slightly off center, but still covering the holes from the first bow. I'm pretty excited- this opens up a lot of possibilities. I'm excited to try these.

winter wrap up.

2010-02-13T19:46:00.000-05:00

wow. what a ridiculous week. There is snow up to my ears (yes, that much.) around here. It was so bad in fact, 15 miles of highway near my house was closed down for 2 days after the storm due to 6-10 foot drifts covering the lanes and trapped cars. We saw helicopters circling nearby, searching for stranded drivers. They are still not done digging roads out around here- and we have more snow on the way. At this point, total snow fall for this area is the most since they started recording, back in 1899.

crazy.

But, I've certainly talked about snow enough- you are probably as sick of it as I am! On to more exciting things!

(please excuse the poor lighting in these pictures)

This is my newly assembled dustpan exercise. I'm SUPER excited how well these items match- and I'm excited to see how 3 particular children take to it on Tuesday...

This is my newly re-assembled dry measuring exercise. I'll put cornmeal or baking soda or something in the container, and then show how to scoop out some, level it off, and place into the bowl. When the bowl is full, it gets poured back into the container. Simple, fun, can be a mess. :)

fabric I bought today for two polka dot aprons! and fabric for transportation reading card pouch, vocab pouch, and Who Am I pouch. Cabin fever + fabric sales= me wandering around for hours and coming home with fun finds!

felt hearts we cut out to make this.

delicious white bean and garlic soup for dinner. mmmm :) the recipe is here. I added two spicy italian sausage links, crumbled and cooked to the soup at the end, and also some fresh spinach/escarole.

now I'm off to go try these cookies Amy is going on about!

Snowmageddon- back with a vengence.

2010-02-10T10:29:00.000-05:00

this sums up the last week.

As if one giant snow storm wasn't enough- we have scheduled to have back-to-back blizzards of 20+ inches each. As of yesterday, some streets hadn't even seen a plow to clear the over two feet of snow before the next storm hit. Thankfully, my parents came to help dig out my car and push me out, and I retreated to Frederick for this round two storm. School was canceled for the rest of the week, and we also have monday of next week off, for president's day. It very well might take that long to clear everyone out from what will be over 3 feet, possibly four! of snow when this is over. The real danger today is the winds- this light powdery snow is blowing like crazy, which will create huge drifts, and has potential to block roads after they have been cleared. good grief.

I sadly didn't make it to the library before this storm, but I do have a great list of other activities planned for the great shut in of 2010.
-records and plans for my classroom
- sorting out geography folder pictures I cut last summer.
-sorting out my Montessori boxes to bring to Baltimore
- reading classified cards pouches- DONE

- pouches for vocab cards
- laundry
- baking bread
- making soup!
- valentines for my class- DONE
- making hairpins for my etsy shop
- sledding!
- re-digging out the car
-getting over this blasted cold.

More pictures to come soon! If you are stuck at home like me, hope you are warm and spending time with those you love! What are you doing with all this snow?

Snowmageddon!

2010-02-07T10:41:00.000-05:00

Dear Snow:

I apologize for ever doubting you. I have certainly learned my lesson. You can stop snowing now, you've made your point.

no seriously. thats enough.

I can't even see my car anymore. He's sad.

the door won't open.

But, I dug my way out.

despite the fact I was thigh-deep in snow.

We will always remember you. (Baltimore has yet to decide the totals and if you were the largest snowfall in history, but I think so!) And, now that I'm safe and warm, it's really quite beautiful!
Until I try and dig out my car...
Thanks for the fun,
Leanne

snow?

2010-02-05T22:10:00.000-05:00

Winter has lived up to the hype. We haven't had much in the way of snow the past few years, but they said (who are they anyways?) this was going to be a cold, snowy winter, and it certainly has been. We've had snow on the ground, and several late openings for school (those are fun...) Apparently, we are now in for the record storm of the past two centuries? The snow wasn't sticking earlier, but right now we have maybe 5 inches. The forecast is for 30 inches-- about 2 1/2 feet. We'll just see about that...

So, it's a weekend of sewing, baking, movie watching and general happy homemaking for me! I keep forgetting to take pictures of the things I've been making, as they are in the I-needed-this-made-yesterday kind of rush.

I did remember to take a picture of this: proper sized handwashing! Can you believe I found this pitcher and bowl set at the thrift store for $2?

Other great finds/creations (please use your imagination)

a complete farm set with multiple animals- also $2

wooden drawer organizer for collage tray- $1

this was unfinished wood, and I painted it with several coats of Mod Podge- fantastic!!

baskets for 25 cents

paper tray organizers

The heart mice are back, and wildly popular! This is an art activity I came up with last year after looking for ideas for valentines. I'll try and take a picture soon for you!

here is the collage tray in action! Right now it's valentines things, but i'll rotate items often.

PS- I am awaiting some exciting information, should know early next week!

hello again!

2010-01-19T20:34:00.000-05:00

please forgive me readers (if there are any of you left...)
It appears this is my first post of the new year. I was hoping to have more things up here in this space before now, but... it seems that was not the case.
We are digging in deep at school, I'm personally up to my ears in lessons and keeping up with the children's hunger for new lessons. I also have a little house (read: apartment) to stay at until April, which is making my life easier sans commute. Pictures to come soon! It appears I will be in and out of this space for the next few weeks as we have parent conferences, progress reports, etc. It might just be pictures of the classroom for a while, until I can get back to a calmer schedule...
Enjoy!

here at the end

2009-12-31T21:15:00.000-05:00

it's been quite the year. It's actually been a terrible year, perhaps one of the worst yet for me. There was a lot of growing, stretching, and learning this year, all painful, but I'm wiser for it. I'm learned to be flexible and think on my feet. I've learned that when you have nothing, you still have family, and that is all that matters.
I learned to be less trusting and naive, but still open. I've learned if you keep getting up and trying again, it might not get better, but you'll make it through.

I'm hoping I've met my quota of life lessons for a while... :)
In the spirit of this holiday, here is a partial list of my hopes for the new year: (we don't do resolutions)
- full time work for R and myself
- A place of our own
- More sewing and things in my shop!
- my own organic garden that supplies all my summer produce
- learning to crochet
- more camping/hiking trips
-catching up with old friends

And so, here is to 2010 and new beginnings!

a family christmas

2009-12-26T15:13:00.000-05:00

My family is all about traditions. Not the old fashioned "we do it this way because we always have" traditions, but the silly, comforting kind of traditions. I'm sure your family has some of these too, and you might not even realize it. We now have a LOT of traditions centered around Christmas, some formed accidentally, and some that are more serious.

***Wrap all your gifts in recycled giftwrap, bags, or fabric bags. Save paper for next year.

This got started mostly out of convenience- to wrap and clean-up. I highly suggest fabric bags, and they are easy to make too! This year sported tags made from napkins, post-its, and snowflakes. Presents were half-wrapped in office supply boxes or multiple gift bags.

***Decorate the house last minute, or have Leanne decorate when she arrives home.

***Outside lights only go up on the coldest, nastiest day of December. No exceptions.

pic by duck brown

***Walk around downtown Frederick on Christmas eve and admire the lights. Also attend candlelight service at church.

***Watch Muppets Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve.

***Encode the tags of all gifts so as to slow down opening in the morning (see below for details)

***Once sorted, presents are opened round robin style.

***Spend all Christmas Day in pajamas, or until dinner at Aunt’s house.

***Leave decorations up until Leanne takes them down (in Jan).

***Save tree to burn outside at the start of summer.

Coded Christmas Tags:

I had thought my mother and father started this tradition when my brothers and I were around 10, and really into detectives, however, it appears Mom decided to start this idea after reading about it in a magazine when I was 7. The real purpose was only to slow us down Christmas morning, and give us something fun to do of course!

Codes have typically been a simple alpha/numeric replacement code (A=N, B=O, etc) with each present says a word or clue about one person.

Examples: Soccer, Boy Scout, Red Hair, Oldest

The clues were relevant to what we were doing each year, and continues even though we are now all grown.

This year, the presents were labeled by a symbol, and we were given a blank crossword to fill out, with highlighted spaces. All the letters in the highlighted spaces were then to be unscrambled as a clue to find the next clue. We thought we were in for a long morning, but it turns out Dad just hid the key to the symbols under the poinsettia, which was the scrambled clue. All in all a good time!

Happy Holidays!

early winter break and some sneak peaks!

2009-12-22T20:51:00.000-05:00

Well, we are STILL snowed in. Not in a can't-get-out-of-the-house way, there's just loads of snow outside and it doesn't seem to be melting. Apparently it's been a big deal in the cities, as many schools (including mine!) have closed school three days in a row. SO... I'm officially on winter break now! Hooray!
We also finally got the tree inside and up, my brother and I decorated it yesterday afternoon with silver stars and some awesome old crocheted snowflakes I found at the thrift store in a bag of (not my taste) handmade ornaments for 50 cents! What a find! I can't imagine giving away such an old treasure! My mother has some hand crocheted snowflakes from my great aunt zitzi, but only about 6. Now there are enough for the whole tree to be covered in old snow fashioned goodness! I love finding such wonderful things.

I've been using my new found time to work on my handmade gifts. My Baltimore batch is finished, here are some sneak peaks (I don't think these people read this blog...)

this one is a cooking apron for the little girl I watch, made form two old vintage napkins. This is such a sweet floral print, and as my dad said- already looks like it's been passed down a generation.

I also made her an art apron from this fabric that screams ART! to me...

Now to move on to the other 8 things to make before Christmas! (yikes!)

Blizzard!!!

2009-12-20T12:44:00.000-05:00

yep. we're snowed in around here. It's hard to believe this much snow could fall in just over 24 hours, but it is literally up to my knees out there. Thankfully, we haven't had to go anywhere, and R came back early from work yesterday. The last time I remember this much snow I was about 10, and we had a week off school with back to back blizzards. We built a snow fort, tunnel, and an awesome sled ramp. This is perfect snow for that... but its just not worth getting soaked and freezing anymore! The best sledding however, was the year we got a thick sheet of ice over packed snow, and we slid on sheets of plastic all the way down to the neighbor's yard. However, we have never (in my or my parent's lifetime) had so much snow in december, especially this early in what is still fall!
We're snuggled up in our house (warmer due to the snow hat on the roof), sewing, baking, reading, and enjoying the snow!

I posted more pictures here
Here's hoping baltimore city needs another day to recover!

white elephants

2009-12-19T14:39:00.000-05:00

For our christmas party this year, my school decided to do a white elephant gift exchange. We were instructed to bring something inexpensive, silly, funny, or handmade. I was going to bring some cookies I made, but got a better idea to make this:

What's more fitting to bring to a white elephant gift exchange than a white elephant? R came up with that one... I made it into a potholder. I appliqued this guy on some rainbow plaid fabric with silver thread.

I used to think an applique would be tricky, but I just used a zig zag stitch set to the lowest length (between stitches) possible. On my ancient machine, it's the dial on the right.

Needless to say, the exchange was hilarious. We had a lot of people, and gifts such as:

handmade ornaments

soap

power strip

8 wooden boxes

socks

fish food

mouse candleholder

scarves

paper towels

The paper towels were actually fought over. I came home with a new vase, which is quite pretty.

In other news, we are snowed in, along with the rest of the east coast in the first December blizzard I remember, possible the first in my lifetime. R had to go in to work today which make this day not as much fun, and much more worry-some. I'm spending my time making christmas gifts, as I decided to make ALL handmade gifts this year... an admirable goal, we'll see if I get done in time.

I'll take some pictures when it stops snowing....

snow and christmas lights

2009-12-16T21:17:00.000-05:00

ok, so this happened two weeks ago... but it's worth sharing!
We had snow. In early december. Those of you from central maryland, queen to the ice storm or really really cold rain know that snow (for the past few years at least) has been a rare sight, but especially rare in early december. We got 5 inches of beautiful snow, all day on Saturday.
A perfect day to put up the lights.
What!? you say? Yes, in fact, putting up the lights at our right requires cold nasty weather. I don't remember why we started this tradition, but its now more a running joke (especially since I can watch from inside!)

One year, we had a very mild december, mid 60s. As it got closer to christmas, and we hoped for a cold day to put up the lights, none came. Finally, we decided we'd just have to go ahead anyways. Not to break tradition, we got out two fans and my brother and I threw ice cubes at my father wearing t-shirts and in bare feet. Mom took a picture, which is still one of my favourite holiday memories. Sadly, it's in a box somewhere... or I'd share it with you!

Things are feeling more holidayish around here already!

Montessori Material Monday: Painting Maps

2009-12-14T21:25:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! it's been too long...

I've started teaching again, so my mind has been elsewhere. I do have a whole list of things to share, so stay tuned! But for now...

Montessori Material Monday strikes again!

For those of you familiar with the Montessori classroom, I'm sure this picture looks familiar. In my training we had map making lessons with colored pencils. However, I noticed many children don't have the patience to fill in a whole map neatly and beautifully with pencils. Intro: the paint! This is for a child who already knows how to make a map. The tray has a watercolor tray, one large and one small paintbrush, jar for water, sponge, and pencil. I demo (on another sheet of paper!) how to use the watercolors to make darker and lighter shades, and how to rinse the brush in between. I would also suggest using a larger than paper mat to protect the table.

And now a question:

Do you find these posts helpful? Would you like to see more materials, theory, pictures, etc?

Anything else you'd like to see more of? Please let me know!!!

goodbye fall...

2009-11-29T21:43:00.000-05:00

I know it's technically fall for another few weeks... but I felt the weather change this weekend, whispering cold, frosty winter. Brrrr! That, and everywhere I look the world (commerical world) is screaming Christmas. So, it's goodbye to fall. I got out my winter coat, and I am now publically listening to my holiday mix on itunes, and looking for new additions this year. Any suggestions?

I'm also making headway on my list of gifts. My goal is to handmake all my gifts this year, or give a thrifted item, which is better for three reasons: less junk created, more personal, and cheap!

The items for my holiday swap partner are together and now just waiting for a box. If I am not too tired, perhaps I'll make a special christmas apron or something to go with the recipes.

Expect a post on tradtions in my family soon... we have quite a few crazy ones.

Also, we are having an arts and crafts holiday fair at school on friday, as a fundraiser. The art is being suppiled by the children and local artists. I made these things to donate:

How do you like my new stationary tags? On the back, I wrote my name, web address of my etsy shop, and the name of each item. Now that I've figured them out, I'll have more of these hairpins in my shop soon.

Hello December!

Button, Button, I have the Buttons!

2009-11-24T21:02:00.000-05:00

I got a package today, which made my trip to the mailbox in the rain so much better. Snail mail for me (that's not junk) always makes me smile. My buttons from the button swap arrived!!!
Inside my lovely envelope I found this: (please excuse my poor lighting and blurry pictures)

I really like this print, I think I'll frame it. It looks so calm and peaceful, and perfect for winter. On the back of that is a lovely note from my partner, Evangeline. She sent me lots of funky, wonderful buttons!

My favourites are the two shell buttons, and the one with small objects inside- a key, heart, as well as the purple one on the bottom right. What a fantastic surprise and such great treasures! Thanks so much Evangeline!

(late) Montessori Material Monday!

2009-11-24T20:39:00.000-05:00

Today's material is Needlepoint!

After searching for more art works for my shelves, particularly more difficult, involved activities for my older children last year, I put together an activity for needlepointing, a kind of sewing with yarn on plastic canvas. All of these materials are easily found in craft stores. I found this awesome container in a thrift store. How perfect!

Materials:
-container for supplies- awesome needlepointed baskets are bonus points.
-small amount of yarn, stored in a neat fashion (i roll mine)
-scissors
-plastic canvas cut into small pieces, about 5 or so in container, or available for refills
-plastic needle (you could use a metal one if you want, but a sharp point is not needed)

Present to a child who is very familiar with sewing.

Presentation:
Intro material. Cut section of yarn the length of fingers to arm. Thread needle, tie knot of end. Demo running stitch first, can also show whip stitch on edges at later time.

There is a lot more than can be done with this kind of craft, using different yarn, designs, stitches etc.

This can also be used to make bookmarks!

an apology

2009-11-23T05:51:00.000-05:00

Dear blog friends:
I do still love you. I will be back soon, with more tales of interest. Please stay tuned!

Love,
Leanne

Thanksgiving!

2009-11-15T20:25:00.000-05:00

So, as I explained earlier, we had Thanksgiving a bit early this year. Sunday was the obvious choice as it is the day everyone is home all day. I'd be happy to have thanksgiving once a month, it's so tasty!! Here is my menu:
Turkey, roasted with root veggies and lemon, seasoned with leftover (unpopular) cajun spice mix
Whole wheat stuffing with pecans
sweet potato casserole
green beans and mushrooms in wine sauce
gravy from scratch
rolls
cranberry sauce in a can (per my brother's request)
chocolate pecan pie

Did I mention this is my second whole Thanksgiving meal I've cooked myself? I got the turkey out at 12, and realized there was no large roasting pan in my mother's house. Determined not to go to the store, I looked for a suitable replacement. I found this:

Yes, a giant crab pot with wire cage. Perfect for roasting a turkey, and in true Maryland style.
I then set about cleaning out the goop from inside, which I had done many times before in roasting chickens, but yelped in surprise to find the neck where I thought part of the leg was. After I got over the surprise and stopped laughing, I prepped the bird and got him in the oven. The house smelled heavenly all afternoon.

all done!

Thanksgiving is one of my favourite times of year. Delicious food, family, warmth, and taking time to reflect and be thankful. Definitely a tradition to take up once a month. What are some things you are thankful for?

as of late.

2009-11-15T17:02:00.000-05:00

Wow, I was just reading when my last post was. So sorry it has been too long! I've been in a strange place lately (in both senses of the word), and I was hoping it would pass... but this is not the place for that.

Some tidbits:
**I start taking over a primary Montessori classroom tomorrow morning, which means my first full week in Baltimore. Packing work clothes for a whole week is proving a challenge. Also, I am giving a talk on the introduction of # 1-10 in the Montessori Environment on Thursday evening (ahh!).

**I sold my first item on etsy!! I was so excited! My candy-striped apron is currently flying on its way to california! I made two new aprons, and I'm in the process of listing them. Check them out on the sidebar.

** We have company coming next saturday, company that is not family OR our friends. Mother is in full clean mode, with everyone else helping out, except me because...

** Thanksgiving this year has been canceled in our house due to over-stress. R and I are headed to his family's in PA, but the rest of my family will not be eating the traditional meal on Thursday. So, I decided to cook Thanksgiving early for them with my crazy cheap turkey Expect a post about this later today or tomorrow!

** I am participating in the holiday traditions exchange! I've finished my handmade decoration (pictures later so as not to spoil the surprise!) and now I just need to gather my tradition and recipe to send off! So many to choose from!

** Not excited about the shortness of daylight these days, or the cold drizzle and overcast skies. I forgot how very gray November can be...

Montessori Material Monday! cinnamon grating

2009-11-09T12:20:00.001-05:00

As promised, here is the first installment of Montessori Material Monday. Today I will be sharing Cinnamon Grating, my current favourite PL activity. This work has worked miracles on two levels- for the three year old who needs more choices, and the 4/5 year old boy who tears around the room and needs to grab and squeeze things. As a bonus, it smells fantastic. I got the idea in my training, but put together the presentation on my own.
This can be quickly put together (as tested last Friday) and mostly uses things you probably already have. Great work to have out for the holidays.

** These directions assume you are aware of general Montessori Theory and Practical Life theory. If you are not, there are some good overviews here at Montessori by Hand (which is Meg's old blog, she is now at Sew Liberated.)

ps- sorry for this picture, but you get the general idea.

Cinnamon Grating:
You will need:
coordinating mat, apron, tray
grater with box to catch (this one is from Montessori Services, but I hear IKEA has some too)
cinnamon sticks
small container with lid to hold grated cinnamon (i don't suggest the glad container I have here, it's too hard to open.)
container for cinnamon sticks

Introduce work, explain about whole spices versus ground spices, what we use cinnamon for, where cinnamon comes from, etc.
Lay out mat, put on apron, place grater on mat so you can grate towards yourself, pointing out direction of grater to child.
Pick up one cinnamon stick, holding firmly pull across grater. Repeat several times.
Put down cinnamon stick. Open box grater, point out grated cinnamon. Open small container. Carefully pour grated cinnamon into container, put down grater. Close small container. Offer work to child.

pfewf

2009-11-08T12:50:00.000-05:00

It's been quite the week, and there's no sign of things slowing down. Here are the updates:

**I'm starting teaching in "my" room in one week (eek!), and I have a feeling this is my last bit of extended free time for a while.

**I'm turning my creative endeavors back to Montessori, beginning by starting a Montessori Material Monday here. Come back tomorrow and see for yourself!

**I have begun work on Christmas gifts, just like my poor confused Christmas Cactus. Pictures will have to wait... ;)

** I have picked my buttons and they are ready to be mailed out for the button swap!

** I got a rock-solid frozen turkey from the store yesterday for 49 cents a pound! Looks like an early thanksgiving dinner is in store next week when it thaws out!

Vintage Swap package!

2009-11-05T11:28:00.000-05:00

What a welcome surprise to come back home to my vintage swap package!! I was literally dancing around with excitement! And oh, what treasures! Well worth the wait!

Inside I found:
sweet red and yellow flower print fabric
cool 70s flower print fabric
cross-stitched duck hand towel with yellow crocheted trim
a cool magnet
a mason jar with:
     brown hand sewing thread
     yellow star buttons
     ribbon trim with yellow and blue rabbits
     ribbon trim with puppies and hearts

     hot pink doily

I could not have asked for a better package! What wonderful treasures!
Thanks so much Annie!

PS- go check out her etsy shop and blog. She's got some really cool things for sale!

organization!

2009-11-04T21:28:00.000-05:00

I took the whole day on Sunday to clean and reorganize my craft area. Good grief I have a lot of things. I now call this space my studio (it's really a corner...) and it's great to have a place just for me and my crafts. My fabric collection, which is mostly from freecycle and thrift stores takes up these two bookshelves, one shelf just for printed cotton pieces. Now that I can see all of it, perhaps it will inspire more sewing!
In other news, I got my vintage swap package today from Annie! I was so excited, and even more excited after opening the box! I'll take pictures and post about that tomorrow when the sun comes back out. I also heard from my button swap partner and picked out her buttons to send. What fun! I'll have to look for more swaps when these are over.
Things have been busy this past week, and it seems that will continue for some time. I'll try to drop in here as much as I can! Reading your comments really makes my day!

halloween puzzle

2009-11-03T19:01:00.000-05:00

(sorry this post is out of date. just pretend it's last saturday.)
This year for halloween, we opted for movies and a fun themed dinner at home while waiting for trick-or-treaters. My brother had the great idea of working on a family halloween puzzle. I set off to find out if such a thing exisited, and came back home with this.

Quite appropriate, don't you think? Except for that 2000 pieces of very similar picture bit. Starry Night is one of my favourite paintings by Van Goah. After one evening, we accomplished the border. Just the border. I have a feeling this will also be the thanksgiving and christmas puzzle. more updates to come...

giveaway picture

2009-10-30T21:38:00.001-04:00

so, I forgot to post a picture of what I'm giving away. oops. here it is!

A winner has been chosen! Thanks to my brother and his collection of dice, comment #1 is the winner!

Inoureyes said...
What great finds. I love pyrex!
I would love to be included in your giveaway.
Thanks, Melissa

Congradulations Melissa! I'll get the box in the mail to you this week! And thanks to everyone who entered. I cleaned up my craft space and was noticing how much stuff I have... I think there will be more of these soon...

a bit of thrifting luck

2009-10-30T15:57:00.001-04:00

Today must be my lucky day. I decided to go visit two of my favourite thrift stores, and my goodness, what finds I found! And cheap!

three striped pyrex bowls $2.50 (together!)

more buttons! Some of these will go to my button swap

a bag of fabric scraps 3.50, two bags of ribbon, .50 each!

Here is some of the ribbon: (I couldn't get it to all fit in one picture!)

Most of these pieces are 3-5 yds each. Wow!

I also found some Christmas presents (shh!) and some neat 4 season pictures in frames.

Definitely worth the trip! I think I shall share some of my luck with you.

This means.... my first giveaway!!

I'll include some fabulous thrifted finds: buttons, fabric, and ribbon.

~~Leave a comment by Sunday @ 8PM, and I'll choose a random winner!~~

Good Luck!

Aprons!

2009-10-26T14:26:00.000-04:00

I'm making aprons to list in my etsy shop. The blue one is proving difficult to photograph. I think I'll make some more! And maybe some other things too.... stay tuned!

And, thanks again to you for your wonderful comments! I don't always get a chance to write back, but I do read all of them. They make my day!

Pumpkin Carving!

2009-10-26T08:36:00.000-04:00

Halloween is one of my favourite holidays. Not the scary-gross-ugly halloween, the cute, mildly dark, fun, silly halloween. We don't really dress up anymore, or get many trick-or-treaters, so our holiday traditions include pumpkin carving and watching the Nightmare before Christmas (which I almost have memorized).
Last weekend, when my youngest brother was home on fall break, I found 4 pumpkins for $2 each (I know, I almost bought more). Sadly, we ran out of time that weekend to carve them, but he returned home this weekend, and so we rescheduled!

So, yesterday morning we set up newspaper on the picnic table outside, collected all the sharp knives we could find, and started cutting. Well, drawing first. And much scooping and scraping.

My brother saw this good idea on another blog: cut a long rectangular shape in the back while cutting the top off the pumpkin. This makes lighting a candle inside less scorching for fingers, makes it easier to scoop out pumpkin goo, and doesn't show when closed again.

all the seeds I sorted through and roasted! so many! There were enough for 2 cookie sheets of salt, and 2 of old bay flavour (yes, maryland through and through!!)

Here they are all done. I love all the expressions!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

some sewing again!

2009-10-20T15:27:00.001-04:00

As I spend my of my time living out of a suitcase, I was not happy with my make up travel bag, and so decided to make one myself (my answer for most of my problems). I bought the book Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross with leftover gift cards a while ago, and had been eying this project for a while. PS-- it's a great book with cool ideas.

I used some of the upholstery sample fabric from the sewing yard sale, and navy blue cotton to line from my (monstrous) stash.
I was a bit nervous about the zipper, I've never tried to sew one before. That part was easy...

When I make this again, and I say when because it's too cute, I won't bother with elastic on the pocket, and I'll either make that bigger to reach higher on the sides, or sew in two. I'll also reinforce the bottom a bit I think, and perhaps some handles. On this bag I added more pockets, as I was tired of digging to find the right long slender object (read: eyeliners) in my old bag.
Here's some pictures of mine completed:

In other news: David Kahn visited our school yesterday (eek!), and met with the staff afterwards. For those that don't know, he's the pres of NAMTA and was in town for a conference. Also an eek moment: I'll be teaching full time (long term subbing) in 5 weeks, as my friend leaves to have her baby. So soon! I'll be talking more about Montessori on here soon...

happy birthday!

2009-10-19T08:24:00.000-04:00

no, it's not my birthday. :)

On Saturday, my grandmother turned 81, and so I made her dinner and of course, a birthday cake. I've been making baked goods from scratch for a long time, but recently decided to add cakes to the list, with wonderful results. I thought box cake was decent, but a homemade cake is just fantastic (when done right). For this cake, I used a recipe for birthday cupcakes from the book Butter, Sugar, Flour, Eggs. Instead of cupcakes, I used 2 9in pans and baked for 30 min.

I decided not to use the frosting recipe in the book, but this one here as I had leftover sour cream and didn't want to add another 2 sticks of butter to the cake tally.
Chocolate Frosting:
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 stick butter
2 1/2 cups powered sugar
1 tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler, let cool. Add corn syrup, sour cream, and vanilla. Whisk in the sugar.

VERY good cake- although it's hard to finish a slice, it's quite rich and filling. But delicious!!

Happy Birthday Grammy!

rain rain go away

2009-10-17T15:45:00.000-04:00

Apparently, I moved to the pacific northwest and no one told me. We've had a constant cold drizzle for 3 days now. As my friend Anah would say: it's a good day for ducks.

The cold and damp weather has encouraged me to snuggle up here at home and make warm things (soup, bread, hopefully PJ pants...). That's the nice thing about these days-- it makes me slow down and gives me an excuse to catch up on home projects. (i spent all morning reading my new magazine! that's always a welcome treat!) Thankfully there is plently of tea to be had, and the electric kettle is getting a work out. So is my rainy day playlist. I started this back in college, and it's my favourite to listen to when its dreary out. I got most of my songs on this online playlist, so you can enjoy them as well.
Here are some others that make a rainy day fun:
Dismal Day-- Bread
I Wish I Were the Rain-- SheDaisy
Rain- The Wreckers

What are your favourite rainy day activities?

pretty cool.

2009-10-12T20:56:00.000-04:00

My parents have a good size backyard which backs up into a small patch of woods, and recently we have had a family of deer visit most mornings and evenings. They eat the leaves off one tree with low hanging branches, which saves us trimming them, and also the fallen fruit from our apple trees. The apples trees are close to the house, so we often get a close look. On Friday I went out, and was startled to see a doe standing not 30 feet from me under one of the fruit trees. She looked up, also startled, and stared at me, seeming to decide if she should run or not. As I froze, she slowly went back to looking for food. I moved forward to get something out of my car, and she watched intently, but seemed to decide I wasn't a threat. In fact, she moved closer. Thankfully, I had my camera in my car and was able to snap a few pictures. I watched her for a while, from 20 feet away, until she decided to move on. So peaceful.

This one makes me laugh. She's eating, but looks like she's talking.

All in all, a pretty cool thing.

a picnic in the park

2009-10-06T10:11:00.000-04:00

What a perfect day it was! Sunny, slight chill in the air-- perfect fall-new-boots-and-coat weather. Luckily, both R and I had the day off and he planned a picnic in the park for us (he's a keeper!) Lunch was too tasty (and windy) to stick around long enough for pictures. We had BLT sandwiches (a favourite of ours), pretzels, carrots, apples, and turtle bars. For a special treat I got root beer in bottles. Other than a few unwelcome guests (yellow jackets) it was just lovely.

We then went for a walk around the lake and R took some pictures. He's much better than I am, but I'm learning!

As we got near the lake, I noticed the water was this Caribbean blue color. This lake has always had algae issues, and we thought perhaps it's some kind of water treatment? There is still tons of algae...?

In other news, I heard from my vintage swap partner, and so i'm off to go find things for her!

sunday baking

2009-10-06T09:52:00.000-04:00

My weekends are when I can do the things I love most: sewing, crafting, and of course BAKING! There was a severe shortage of home-baked goodness, so I set about making that right again. my brother ate all of my cranberry nut bread, so for breakfast bread I made two loaves of zucchini bread. R requested apple crisp, which is quickly becoming a fall traditional dessert. I also made turtle bars for my mother, as well as her breakfast cookies. I find it's easier to bake several things all at once. Here are the yummy results!

hopefully these will last all week until I make more next weekend! What are your favourite fall baking recipes?

sewing yard sale!

2009-10-03T17:27:00.000-04:00

My eyes were playing tricks on me, I was sure. A whole yard sale of just fabric and sewing supplies? It's my own special jackpot. After driving past it twice this morning (probably due to this i have playing in my car) I stumbled upon this gem. I took pictures to prove it.

yes, that is all fabric. $1 a yard.

Isn't it just wonderful! I so wanted to buy everything, but I restrained myself just to a few things. Here are my treasures of today:

All fantastic things for my classroom! Those nail clippers are for flower arranging, and I got these for 10 cents!

Now to go wash my fabric and add it to my shelf. Perhaps some sewing is in order... stay tuned!

city mouse

2009-09-30T21:31:00.000-04:00

These days, my life is split between my house and Baltimore, with an hour and thirty min drive in between. I am still adjusting to all the noise, people, cars, and buildings, but I'm finding the city to also have its quiet spaces and green spaces.

I love the row houses, there is something to be said for the old fashioned charm

On another note, I saw this on my crafty mess which she saw on here we are together. It looks like fun, so play along please!

Four Jobs I’ve Had
Montessori teacher
Lifeguard
Coffee Barista
Camp Counselor

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over (and I do)

Elizabethtown
Nightmare before Christmas
Sweet Home Alabama
Emperor's New Groove

Four Places I’ve Lived
Lafayette, Louisiana
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Baltimore, Maryland
Frederick, Maryland

Four Places I’ve Visited
Fiji
Florida Keys
California
Maine

Four of My Favorite Dishes
Tomato Mozzarella Pasta
brownies
sushi
soup (all of them)

Four Sites I Visit Daily
igoogle
facebook
freecycle
food network

Four TV Shows I Love
CSI
The Office
Greek (it's funny)
Giada at Home (off food network)

Four Albums in Permanent Rotation
Norah Jones-- Not Too Late
Green Day-- American Idiot (and the new one is quickly joining this list)
Sara Evans- Restless
Motion City Soundtrack- Even if it Kills Me

what i will usually talk about.

2009-09-27T12:59:00.001-04:00

I realized I haven't really talked about Montessori or sewing yet, which is what I said this blog is about (and what I spend most of my time on). I've been taking a bit of a break from both of those things, partly from not being near my sewing machine, and partly because I've currently set a GIANT project for myself to hand-make everything I can for my room (ambitious, I know) and i'm avoiding it. R thinks I'm nuts. I did get a chance to make this apron recently for shoe polishing, with fabric I picked out from my stash a while ago, wool plaid.

AND: to improve on my other aprons/change it up/i'm running out of velcro- I used a leather button from my awesome button jar. The tie is thinner than I usually make (actually an accident) I used my cool bias tape maker (we have a love/hate relationship) and then folded in half before sewing together. I simply made a loop on the end to fit over the button. We'll see if it is 3 year old friendly!

I'm enjoying the change of the seasons and the crisp, cool air. It inspires me to have hot tea and chai lattes, light candles, and of course BAKE! Currently sitting on the counter: pumpkin whole wheat muffins and cranberry nut bread. I used whole wheat flour instead of buckwheat, and buttermilk for milk in the muffins, and crasins, 2 normal eggs, and no glaze for the bread. I find I rarely make a recipe exactly as it says, does anyone else do this?
Apparently, I'm not allowed to make anymore until these are eaten/frozen :( I guess until then, I'll just have to look for more fall baking recipes to try!

Fair Friday

2009-09-26T08:39:00.000-04:00

R and I both had the day off yesterday, and in a moment of nostalgia, we decided to visit the county fair. After paying $19 just to park and walk in the door, we quickly realized why the fair was fun as kids, but not quite as exciting now. Surprisingly, I still knew my way around, as the vendors were all in the same places, exactly. We started by looking at the fruits and vegetables, and moved on the household tent after a stop to look at the rabbits. I might look into entering something next year if we are still around here. (free tickets!) We got some lunch at Hemp's (tradition, and also IMO the best food there), and looked at the rest of the farm animal buildings before calling it a day.

So, I bet you are wondering what that picture has to do with anything? We decided to stop at baker park on the way back and take some pictures. While we don't have a spectacular camera, (we'd love this!) we both enjoy photography.

I took this one as R was throwing small pieces of a stick into the water and these ducks came to investigate. Ducks make me laugh.

It was nice to have some time to just sit and enjoy being outside.

Bugs and Buttons

2009-09-24T20:04:00.002-04:00

As some of you know, I'm currently subbing at a Montessori school, on-call. This makes for interesting mornings, as I never know if i need to scramble my things together and hop in the car, or if I can stay home and craft. Today was one of those home kind of days. After finishing sorting my glorious button collection, I felt inspired to make two pieces of jewelry, a bracelet from old white pearly (shell?) buttons, and a fun yellow and gray necklace. I also repaired a necklace that i meant to fix a while ago.

However, I found myself distracted all day by stinkbugs. We have an infestation of these creatures around here, which I don't remember happening before. There must have been 20 on my window alone. Several have even snuck into the house. I tried to take pictures, which turned out poorly, so please just imagine. I decided to take action, and mixed up some bug spray, adding a (small) bottle of Listerine. This seemed to annoy the bugs more than kill them, but after spraying ferociously I thought I was making progress. This is very counter to my nature, as I usually like bugs, but I just had it in for these guys. I settled back in to my work, but not 30 minutes later I looked up and they were all back! With more! ugh. I give up.

Perhaps it is time for some sewing in the basement, where there arn't any windows...

ps- happy national punctuation day!

First!

2009-09-22T16:09:00.002-04:00

After playing around with the idea, I have finally decided to start my own blog. I get so much joy from reading other blogs and hope I can in turn brighten someone else's day.

Yesterday I went thrifting with my grammy. I share her passion for finding use in old things other people have long since discarded, and in teaching children. We went to two shops near her house that she didn't realize were there. I'm not sure she had been in a thrift store recently, as she was so surprised at how BIG the stores were, (and at how cheap everything was!). I found several good things for my classroom boxes (sadly, they have no home at the moment) including a little orange vase, a piano shaped box, and a large metal tub I intend to use for table washing. I also found adorable bobby pins, a sheet for my vintage swap and some red wool yarn. However, the BEST things I found yesterday were a bag of rip-stop nylon scraps (hello lots of aprons!) and a big jar of old buttons.

I like to imagine someone else's grandma saved all these, and can't imagine how someone could give these away. I was so excited, everyone at home laughed at me and my buttons.
I'm already thinking of projects!!! (more button bracelets for the shop perhaps... or for me!)

Old buttons are the best.