Diapers

We've been cloth diaper users for a long time. As a result, some of our diapers had been sent to the rag bag. They had seen better days. I tried, as an experiment, to make some contour diapers using two of the more raggedly diapers, and some flannel from the fabric stash. I don't think I did too badly:

The pattern I used is from Mama Bird's Free Diaper Pattern. It was pretty easy to put together. What do you think?

The Great Cookie Marathon

The 2008 Cookie Marathon has begun. This year I am making 11 different types of cookies. Here they are in no particular order:

1. Skillet Cookies - My favorite
2. Christmas M&M Cookies - The King's favorite
3. Almond Crackles
4. Black Forest Crinkle Cookies - Ace likes these.
5. Cherry Belles - An oldie but a goodie
6. Peppermint Swirls - Deuce's favorite
7. Cranberry Walnut Swirls
8. White Chocolate Dream Cookies - white chocolate and orange. Heavenly!!
9. Hawaiian Snowball Cookies
10. Pecan Sandies - Another favorite of the King.
11. Chocolate Caramel Cracker Bars - Three of Heart's favorite.

If I remember, I'll try to post the recipes to these delicious cookies.

Food Porn

Ree, the Pioneer Woman, is an amazing food pornographer. Every day I find myself drooling over her delicious looking, so-good-you-can-smell-them-through-the-computer cooking tutorials. This, my friends, is some serious food porn. I don't know how you could possibly eat anything she has on her website without it going directly to your hips, but experts say that you should fantasize daily, so I find myself, looking at her pictures in the dead of night, when no one is looking, and fantasizing.

Mmmmm......

Handmade Holidays - Update

Well, I've finished a couple of gifts. Not telling right now what or for whom, but I've done some nice work, if I do say so myself. So nyah nyah nyah. Yep, that's me. Mature.

Shoe shopping

Ahh... I love shoe shopping. Really, really love it. Your feet don't gain weight. You never have a "bad foot day" the way you do with hair sometimes. Feet are forgiving. You need to treat them right, and they will always be understanding.

But today, I took Ace and Deuce shoe shopping. They've been wearing their crocs constantly, even to places where I wouldn't think they'd be very normal - Church, nice restaurants, etc. So I got on their case, why the crocs all the time? Well, apparently neither one has any shoes that fit. (You're kidding, right? I just got them shoes.) But then I started to think, maybe they don't. So after determining that they do have tennis shoes, and crocs, and that's about it, I took them for new shoes.

First stop, DSW - Shoe mecca! Earlier this summer, she "graduated" from girls shoes to women's shoes. A few months ago Ace began altar serving at church and had no dress shoes (part of the uniform,) so I bought her some nice flats, size 6. She said they were too small about a month after we brought them home. Naturally I didn't believe her. So there we were. I told her to sit, and I began pulling shoes off the sale racks for her to try on. Guess what? Size 6 was too small. So was size 7. So was a 7 1/2. She is squarely in a size 8. EGADS!! I guess there really weren't any shoes in the house her size. So I got her 4 pair, a dressy, a flat, a play shoe, and a fun shoe. All the essentials.

Oh, and I got a pair for myself too.

Now for Deuce. She is a size 3. We went to three other different stores before we found any that were any good for her. What is it with the shoe companies? Girls need something more than dressy shoes with glitter and heels or sneakers. What about in-between, normal shoes? We found the holy grail over at J.C. Penneys. Not my favorite store, but you take what you can get, right?

The Holy Grail of Girls Shoes.

Handmade Holidays

As you can see by the little button on the left, I am going to attempt to give handmade gifts this Christmas.

Here is a site that has lots of great ideas - in case you are short of good ideas as to what a person can make for a handmade holiday. I'll be posting more, but I don't want any of my friends (and you, mom) to know what I am giving them for Christmas.

http://www.sewmamasew.com/blog2/

Fun, fun, fun!!

Some things I will not miss

Jack of Hearts has been having a really rough day, and it's only 11:30 in the morning. Now he naps.

But BEFORE the naps, man! Was he rough!

First off, we need to have a tantrum over the pancakes he had for breakfast. He was sooo hungry, he could not wait another minute. The way he was acting, I think the only way he would have been satisfied was if I gave him batter and a spoon. Naturally, the tantrum continued when I asked his sisters to set the table, and because he wanted to put the butter on the table, but was too busy screaming to tell anyone, he ran over to the table, grabbed the butter and threw it across the room. Nice.

A couple of tantrums later - he still hasn't actually eaten anything - I put him back in his bed, telling him that he can come out when he is ready to be pleasant. About 15 minutes later he comes back into the kitchen, as sweet as can be, and begins to eat his pancake. Then another one, then mid-pancake, begins another tantrum about how he doesn't want pancakes, but instead wants a banana.

Okay, I tell him - and give him the half banana that I have sitting by my plate. Yes, he wants it. That is just what he wants, for about 30 seconds, when I am dodging a flying banana, listening to shrieks again. Back to bed he goes.

It goes like this until my mil comes to pick the kids and take them to Atrium. I tell her that JOH is not going to day. Meanwhile, he is whining about crayons, and whining about paper, and whining about his clothes, and whining about God-knows-what. The moment the girls leave, the crying begins AGAIN, and AGAIN the boy finds himself back in bed. It is 8:30 am by this time.

After a bit, he comes out, and is nice for a little while. We read some stories, the furnace guy comes to clean the furnace, and I get some of the books I pulled off the bookcases downstairs. By 10:00, however, the spell is off, and he is back to whining and crying, and driving me nuts. I put him back in bed, and this time he falls asleep. WHEW!

I WILL NOT MISS DAYS LIKE THIS.

Here is is, getting some nap-time, another crabby day.

Getting Things in Order

My friend came over to help me organize tonight. We went through a bottle of Merlot trying to get my bookcases in order. I must say, with her help, I did manage to get two crates of books off the book cases, and down into storage until we actually need them upstairs. I found some items to give away, and I found the lost yellow cuisanart rod that was missing for about a year. I also found two socks tucked behind some books. They didn't match each other.

I also moved the items that we use EVERY DAY to the middle of the cases, where I can easily access them, rather than waayyy on the end, behind the baby swing (my friend is pretty smart!!)

I've also got all the nature study things altogether in a bin for when we want to do that. (yay!)

Of course there are still some things that don't belong on the school bookshelves, like cookbooks, cross-stitch books, and things like that, and I still haven't had the courage to go through the kids' coloring books, but I think that the way things look now, the shelves will be a lot more usable, and using them will be a lot more pleasant. Next task is to tackle my desk. (ick.)

Booby-Trapping myself

Maybe I should have my plastic cupboard as my organizational challenge. I think I've saved every cottage cheese container and yogurt container our family has emptied since 1999. On top of that, we keep the plastic pitchers, water bottles (and for some reason) the colander in the same cupboard, so every time I need something, I get a plasticalanche.

Or maybe I should organize my "bags" cupboard. This is the sinkhole wherein the garbage can liners, plastic grocery bags, other plastic shopping bags, paper plates, cups and napkins, and (once again inexplicably) the bubbles and flashlights (?) are kept. If I want anything, I end up shoving everything back in as hard as I can, so it can spring out at me again the next time I open the cupboard. Nothing like getting hit in the face with a flashlight to get you thinking about organization is there?

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen U.F.O.'s (Unfinished Projects)

1. The sweater I'm making for Ace. I'm working on learning stranding, and I've about finished the back of it. It is out of Knitter's magazine, Fall 2006 issue.


2. The washcloth I started yesterday.

3. The scrapbook of pictures and stuff from our honeymoon to Cozumel.

4. The wedding sampler I started cross-stitching for my sister (she got married 10 years ago!!)

5. Pajamas for TOH. They're cut out, but at this rate, they'll fit the baby.

6. The cross stitch of the lady looking over her writing book. Mirabilia designs, in case you were curious.

7. A Barbie evening gown with pretty beading on it. I began it for a present for Ace. Now I figure it'll never get done.

8. Ace's mittens.

9. This knitted Clapotis.

10. A parts-of-speech capture game.

11. The pink and black Sha-sha Dream bag. (all it needs is a button and buttonhole - Seriously!!!)

12. The quilt I started for my step-niece-in-law.

13. This bumblebee baby picture.

This was faaarrrr too easy. I guess I'd better get to finishing up some things, eh?

Encouraging Motivation and Enthusiasm

While we are not unschoolers by any stretch of the imagination, we are also not structured schoolers either. I like to think that we are eclectic homeschoolers with a bit of structure, led by the student's interests, with me making sure that the bases get covered 3-R's-wise. Sometimes it does seem like we flag on interest and enthusiasm. Tammy at Just Enough, and Nothing More, shares ways to keep her kids motivated and interested in what they are learning.

Here are a few more that work for us here. When interest flags, shake it up a little. Make up a game to drill the skill, let the computer be the teacher, let one child teach another for a little different approach.

Also, we are a big fan of checklists. A checklist shows the kids what is expected of them, and when they are done. It is very gratifying to look at a list with nothing left on it, knowing you have the rest of the day to play, read, or whatever.

Also, make sure you are cutting out the busywork. How much of the schoolwork is really necessary, and how much is just work for work's sake?

What do you do to encourage enthusiasm?

30-Day Org. Challenge part I

Planning:

1. What do I want the purpose of my room or area to be?
This is supposed to be our school room, where my kids will be able to do their schoolwork, without taking it all over the house.

2. What do I need in or near the room to serve that purpose?
The schoolbooks and materials we are currently using, plus any teachers guides or sourcebooks that I need to spice it up from time to time.

3. What can I remove from the room?
Everything we are not currently using, books that belong in bookcases in other rooms, toys, clutter that seems to find its way on, in or under my desk, bookcases, school table, or kids' desk.

4. What problems do I see with the room?
Theres not much light, and there is limited space for four kids plus everything we need for school, plus baby swing. There is currently the only window big enough to sustain houseplants for the winter, so I know that they will also be moving in here soon as well.

5. What organizational tools might solve those problems?
Getting the unused stuff out of here first will help. Perhaps I can give each child their own shelf, where their books can be kept, then they can replace them to their places after using?

Also it will help for me to clean out this desk and get the items that have been jammed in the drawers out of here - to the garbage - most of this stuff has been in place for 5+ years, I use only a very small part of it.

6. What habits need to change to solve the organizational problems?
Putting things back after we use them, and not using the school table as a dumping ground will be a good first step.

7. What kind of a budget do I have to create the organized room of my dreams?
Zilch.

8. What kind of a timeline is necessary to organize the room?
I hope to get this done in a couple of weeks.

9. What is my plan of action?
First, do the desk, then attack the shelves.

Read the complete article with descriptions of each of the questions here.

Finally ask yourself:

10. Who can I ask to help me with this?
Kids can help with some.

Why Not School?

Linda over at The Joyful Journey has some great insights about why she would never put her kids into public school. To add my own couple of cents to her statements:

1. Schools are institutions designed to educate the masses. They are not designed to meet either the emotional or academic needs of the individual. As such, they will most effectively reach "the average" student, often missing the needs of the lowest and highest performing children. The problem is that there is no such thing as an "average" student. Every person comes with their own strengths and weaknesses. No student is taught in such a way to play to their strengths or to strengthen their weaknesses. No wonder public school fails so many students all at once, rather than giving an actual education to them.

5. Schools are places where curriculum rich in revisionist history, environmental indoctrination and liberalism is often taught by teachers who share a similar agenda. Current teaching methods may stress "self-esteem" more than academic excellence. In much of today's curriculum, activities which require critical thinking are largely non-existent. It isn't just the "liberals" who are guilty of this. The problem is when other points of view are ignored or discounted as being wrong, or plainly ridiculous. Then when a new teacher/administrator moves in, the point of view switches, sometimes to something opposite from the last class. As a result kids are left with nothing solid to base their opinions on, nothing concrete to hold on to.


What do you think?

30-Day Org. Challenge

I've decided to give the 30 day Organizational Challenge a try. Our school room is horribly disorganized. What's worse, is that with it so cluttered, the kids don't want to do their school work there, so they take it to all the other rooms, making them cluttered with school stuff as well. That sort of defeats the purpose of having a designated school space.

Here are the before pictures. The only thing giving me the courage to post them is the knowledge that next to nobody (except you, Mom) reads this blog. Brace yourself.

How do you like the jumbled bookcases?

This is my desk. Those drawers are as bad as the surface.

Here is the kids' desk and computer. It has enough junk underneath. Ironically, there are some boxes there from the last time I attempted to organize. Never used.

Well, wish me some luck.