August's Attempts

August is like my school-year alarm clock.  Ding ding ding!!!  September is near and you need to have everything ready and in it's place!

And you need to have a clean, comfortable, learning space!

So it was time to get rid of the plain beige walls and get a little more comfortable.  Young Man likes blue and when he says blue he means vivid, saturated, tropical waters blue... but that's a little much for me for a room in the middle of our house.

So off to the home DIY store for paint. 

First off, I want to tell you that the darker blue paint blob to the right is what happens at the DIY store when you finally agree on a more soothing shade of blue with your Young Man and you hand the paint chip (with a paint company's name on it)  to the representative of a different paint brand who happens to be behind the paint counter and says "Well I can make in it our brand."

It does not work and apparently, after returning to the DIY store, it is also not legal to cross paint numbers from one brand to another.  Who knew?  But obviously there is a reason.

So you can see our much lighter blue cut-in here.  Yes, yes...  a little color, a little blue to give us a little personality in our little room without being too distracting.  Wow.  Look at all the mess we had to move and pile up to be able to work in this room.  The dining room was really piled up (prev pic). 

And by now it's dark outside, but our painting is done.  I will admit it was quite rushed and not the best quality painting I've ever done.  But September was coming quickly, you know?

So now we do have a lovely space that we all enjoy being in to learn and play and read.  Even Hubby likes to be in this room.  Now I really want to complete the room with a futon cover and I have a plan to make some curtains.  Crocheted curtains of course!

It's always so much fun to move back into a room and make it function.  I enjoy being able to put-and-putter and make our spaces feel homey.  We've had a good couple of months working in here and we've learned so much.  It's hard to believe a quarter is already over.

August in the Blue Ridge Mountains:  It was still hot, very beautiful and always welcoming.  It's a much different scene now with brightly colored leaves flying to the ground.  Time for soups and big blankets. 

I hope you are warm and cozy where you are. 

I have almost finished my little hooked sweater so hopefully I'll be back to share that REAL soon.

xo

Achieving Balance, or Pursuing It At Least...

The topic of maintaining balance and sticking to routine came up over and over again within the span of just a few days.  It just happened to be at a time when I was thinking about our Routine at home with schooling, child raising, housekeeping and crafting, oh and husband-taking-care-of.  And then there is downtime. 

Stop laughing.

So one of  my dear crafty sister-friends over on SCS was planning a Bible Study based on this book and I took the hint from the various emails, newsletters, blog posts and such that had been whispering balance, routine, etc., and hopped right in. 

I must admit that it has not been easy to get my chapter reading done promptly each week, as I suffer due to my lack of maintaining balance.  However, I faithfully work it in each week where and whenever I can that it won't interfere with the other people who live in this house.  And I am learning that there is no one secret to maintaining balance in one's life.  For me it is a process - an on-going process.  There are a GREAT many THINGS to DO in our days, are there not?  And I have trouble balancing it all.  I can accomplish it all but I'm not at all graceful about it.  I always feel behind or need to do something else and can't get to the things that have grabbed my attention due to other things that are more important at the moment. 

I don't do schedules well.  I like the word Routine.  It gives me just enough structure to know what needs to happen in a day without the stress of staring at a clock.  But what I have found my Routine is lacking in doing this study is that I don't actually allow time for Rest.  No wonder I'm a raving lunatic by the end of the day!  No wonder I feel so frustrated that I never have time to get to the fun things, the downtime things, the relaxing things.  I need more balance.  And so do my kids.  Well, they need a more balanced mom.

Part of being balanced for me is also not just about time and accomplishing things, but feeling settled too.  My dear hubby knows this all too well.  So he convinced me to bring up all of my packed-up crafty goodness from the basement and make a space in a room that we did not currently use

 (as we have not painted it or bought furniture for it).   

I also do not feel settled unless my family is taken care of and are all heart-happy. 

I have much farther to go on my Pursuit of Balance, but I have achieved a new perspective.  And I need to spend more time reading His Word because I believe that's where all the answers are that will remind me of what I really need to be focusing on and what I really need to be doing.  And that includes Rest. 

Wishing all of you a very productive, yet restful day.

A Very Colorful Project

Hello folks!  Come along with me on a Color Journey!  I will be the first one to admit that I am not good at color.  I don't know why because I love LOVE color...  Yet whenever I yearn to make my next scrumptious hooky project out of a yummy scrummy yarn it never seems to be in Big Color.  I always lean towards earthy tones and natural hues when choosing yarn.  Now for Sweet P. I pick out lots of pink of course, but that's as far as it goes.  So when Lucy over at Attic 24 posted about doing a very fun ripple blanket AND THEN mentioned that she was doing a Ripple-A-Long with Heather from Little Tin Bird AND THEN invited whomever-wants-to-Ripple-A-Long, well I knew this was a perfect chance to go Colorful and learn a thing or two.  Probably mostly what I will learn is what colors don't look right next to each other.  Ha!

So after reading their lovely post about choosing colors and stashing yarn I embarked on my search for Color.  Now they have a lovely stash of scrummy yarn, but I was not so prepared.  So I searched for a fairly inexspensive yarn that would be brightly colored but still needed to have some weight and soft scrummy-ness about it to keep my interest.  I think I found just that.  In fact I'm already thinking how WonDerFul this would be for little people clothes!

Yes, pink of course.  And Crocus.  What a perfect name for a Color!

Then some purpley-blues.  Isn't Hydrangea another perfect name for yarn color?!

Oh and then some yummy greens!!  It's pure love...

And I really fell in love with these vivid blues.  I really need to play with Color more often!

And following Lucy's advice I tossed in the yellow, orange and red to add my brightness.  I like to think of these as my Candy Corn colors at this time of year!

So there you have it - my color chocies for a Ripple-A-Long.  As you can see from the labels I bought Shine Worsted yarn from Knit Picks online.  I'm often hesitant to buy a new yarn online because I'd rather be able to get my hands on it before purchasing, but I was NOT disappointed with this yarn!

My new Ripple-A-Long yarn stayed in it's basket for a couple of days and I truly enjoyed just admiring it, but then also realized it was a bit intimidating to start thinking about which color first?  And then second?  I always have a plan and know just what I want in just which color, but again, putting lots of gorgeous color together is new to me.  So I started with a deep pink of course!  I'll be back to show you what went next to it!  Gee I hope this works!

I have to add how much I love Fall!  I've been trying to Autumn-ize the house a bit for the little ones and us big ones.  I love these colors that I know so well year after year.  I've been dressing up my window again so I'll share that later, too.

Outside is looking very Autumn-y too.  Can you see the rain in this picture?  It really helped knock down the leaves for a great leaf pile.  That's been loads of fun here too.  Even the dog is into it.

Happy, lovely fall to you!  I'm seriously going to hook up a little sweater and then do some Rippling.  See you soon!

Tidying Up the Tea Cupboard

Hi.  Happy Weekend!  I've been spending a bit of time reorganizing and tidying up a bit around here.  I have a very special friend coming for the weekend and I'm soooo excited!  A bit of catch up time, some fun girl time and even some planning-for-future-stuff time!

Some friends know you so well and you are so comfortable with them that you don't have to worry about your dustbunnies.  Well, in honor of her coming I wanted to control my dustbunny population, but it's just nice that I didn't have to Worry about it...

But in my preparations for our little visit  I realized I was out of tea.  I love tea and drink it all year long, but it does get special attention when the days get cooler and when my tea drinking friend comes to visit.  Now, the last time she was here and asked for a cup of tea I said, oh no, I think I'm out of tea!  But when she went to the cupboard she found about five boxes.  This time, I was OUT of tea!  Now I do occasionally like to order tea from wonderful places like Murchies but no time for that now.  Just some nice herbals from the supermarket will do for now.  I do love Murchies because I was introduced to them on a trip to see Hubby's family and they have a wonderful selection of everything!

But today I just want to show you a couple of favorites.  My new FAVORITE, favorite is this Bengal Spice.  Wow.  I've had nice spicy teas, but this one takes the cake!  It is so warm and richly spiced and to my surprise soooo naturally sweet!  I had to go check the box and see if they put something else in there, but no.  Just spicy goodness and 0 carbs! 

The True Blueberry is an old fav, but one that my dear friend really enjoyed on her last viisit, so must keep that on hand.  And then I had to clean out and reorganize the tea cupboard.  She will laugh, but I like tidy places and baskets to hold everything.

Besides, when the weather is dumping buckets and splashes all over, what's better to do that fix up, pretty up and rearrage the tea cupboard?

One last funny thought.  We are such creatures of habit aren't we?  I just have to share that I've been wanting to find a new laundry detergent that really cleans and really smells fresh.  One that I love using and smelling when I make the bed or put our clothes away.  So I stood in the grocery store staring and reading and wondering and pricing and picked out a 'new' one to try.  Do you know when I got home and put it on top of the washer it sat right beside a bottle of the very same stuff?!  How funny.  I'm still looking for a new one to try.  Lol!

 Have a truly wonderful weekend folks and let me know what smelling, good working detergent to try next.  Obviously, I can't figure it out on my own! 

xoxo, Chris

Stash Busting Cutie

Hello!  I have been on such a roll lately getting little projects done.  I think it's the change in the weather.  When we have these fall teaser days it makes me want to cook and hook.  I had done several hats for my grandfather recently and I have s e v e r a l  other little things on my mind to complete.  Yes, my list of to-do's is looooong!  I have mental lists and several pattern books and magazines stashed in my yarn bag.  If they are in the yarn bag that means I really intend to get to them sooner-than-later.  Then I have the majority of books and patterns put away where I can't be tempted by them.  Those are wonderful to have to peruse just in case I run out of sooner-than-later projects.  Ahem...  right then.

So recently I came across this wonderful little idea here at Pardon My Chaos of using a granny square to make a little sweater.  How sweet! So I wanted to make sure I give Amanda props for so inspiring me.

This was a new-to-me idea and I loved it!  It's a great was to use up left over yarn.  I really want to make a couple in bright, fun colors, especially since we are headed into fall.  This was a left over alpaca blend yarn in a very pale pink.  And as much as I LOVE the earthy fall colors, I really want to make some more colorful versions of this cutie. 

I decided as I went along that it needed to be a bit longer so I added a couple rows of scalloped edging to cover low-back and tummy.  I also put on a little flutter sleeve just for fun and for the pure girlie-ness of it.

I used to love to play with photography - back in the day when I had a film SLR that I knew how to manipulate so well.  I realize I need to spend more time learning my digital camera and I really wish I had more direct sunlight in this house.  Well, there's not a lot I can do to fix that, but on a dreary day like this I really notice how dark it is in here.  Think hubby would mind putting in a few windows?  Just kidding. 

Also, I have to mention this lovely blog little woolie that I was recently directed to and oh, so glad.  It is such a happy place full of color and goodness inspiration and happens to be having a little giveaway.  Check it out if you can.  You will be glad you did!

So have a bursting-at-the-seams happy day folks. 

I hope the weather is pretty for you to enjoy where ever you are. 

July Just a Memory

Moment of truth:  I actually wrote up a lovely post for July and with baby-happenings, etc., I walked away from the computer and when I returned it was GONE!  So I'm just now getting around to doing it again. 

So, some sweet summer memories:  Returning home from visiting family and finding lucious, fat, sweet, juicy berries ready for picking and Yum!

We enjoyed very small harvests every day.  It seems morning and night there were more sweet berries ready for our enjoyment.  It was so fun after dinner each day to walk out and pick our desert.  The kids loved it - almost as much as I did!

I thought how next year I need to make easier access to the vines and hopefully can figure out the best way to harvest so I can attempt some homemade jam or some other juicy goodness from these little gems.  As it was, that side of our yard is still overgrown and getting close enough to pick took some stretching and careful placement of feet.  Then wondering 'who' you may be stepping on...  Must bush whack the fence line and make it easier and less scary for next year!

I did attempt to fill our little basket, but as you can see, the more we picked the emptier our basket became!  That's all good with me.  It was so sweet to see Sweet P enjoy this special treat.

This is one little corner of our yard that I tried to add a bit of color this summer.  Our Young Man built  this little bird house (yay!).  It was one of those moments when I really didn't want to put it outside in the elements to weather because I wanted to cherish it.  His first attempt at really building something with his own 2 hands.  Sigh...  but each time he spotted his birdhouse in the bay window he would ask, "Mom, when are you going to hang my birdhouse up?"  So I am learning to cherish the moments and experiences and capture the memories for later.  It's so much more important to see his creations be useful and appreciated for what they were intended.  Tough job this Mom-Stuff. 

Our days were full and busy all summer long here, but we did enjoy our walks through the garden.  Even the pets really loved spending time in the garden.  The fresh, soft dirt and hiding in the corn and beans were very exciting to little kitties who sometimes need to feel like lions. 

I also enjoyed saving the memories of the new blossoms and pods and enjoying the beauty up close.  The smell of this dill was fabulous!  I'm now drying the seeds so Hubby has some seasoning stashed away for his grilling needs.  Love it when Hubby grills!

One of my favorite things from July was making good old corn fritters just like Grandma taught me to, especially with the fresh corn from our garden.  Nothing better.  She always showed me to scrap the 'milk' off the cob and add just enough milk, flour, egg and seasoning.  Fried in a bit of bacon grease makes them so delish!  I know it's not an everyday thing, but they are so good.  It's one of those things that takes me back to childhood, to simpler times, good, sit down and chat with my mom and grandparents and laugh moments.  They always have a special place in my heart.  If only my mom and grandparents were sitting in my kitchen to enjoy these with me.  Maybe next year.

It's crazy that July is just a memory now.  I need to look through my pictures and try to remember what August was all about.  As the weather has changed I've had several little projects being hooked along.  Let me see what I can share... 

Chat soon, xo!

June Happenings

Oh, the excitement of the very first green shoots coming up in the garden!  It's always the radishes of course, but that's all I need to get motivated.  And it excites the kids and lets them know that they can garden too!

There's just something so beautiful about a garden...  The vibrant colors, the fact that you're growing your own food, even the dirt is gorgeous in a garden.  I love to see the kids playing in the garden and pulling out homegrown goodies with eyes wide in wonder.  It's a beautiful thing!  Until that beautiful garden dirt is all over the kitchen floor, of course.  And with a dog participating in all of our outdoor adventures we end up with quite a mess. 

These are the very first rows of our very early garden.  Putting in a first year garden is quite a challenge.  We decided to make small sections one at a time and add as we went.  If nothing else we have tons of rocks!  I supposed we could make 'rock' soup!

I felt very funny taking a photo of our sandwiches, but I had to.  Honestly, it was our first homegrown onion!  I was surprised at how mild and sweet it was.  Now I wish I knew what kind it was, but given the busy-ness of our spring some of my plans went by the wayside.  Now I'm not sure exactly what we planted.  Not that it really matters.  I just enjoy the fact the this little family managed to put in a little garden and we get to spend time working in it, playing with it and eating what we grow.  I am secretly hoping that the most important thing we are raising with our gardening efforts are Future Gardeners!  I think we are headed in that direction.  Yay!

So after traveling with hubby and then traveling to be with family during some illnesses it was good to come back home.  I generally can't stand things to be a mess, but I found so much comfort in just being back to our home and our things that even the clutter was welcomed.  It also helps that I'm getting used to living in this house that needs lots of TLC.  Since we have a good bit of work to do here we haven't actually spent a lot of time on decorating or beautifying yet.  

And kids need clutter. Their play is their business after all and very much how they learn.  It's been quite a journey for me to accept that I cannot keep things sparkling all the time.  That I always have laundry to do.  That my house does NOT look like a magazine cover.  Ha!  It never will and that's ok.  I've had to learn that the cleaning will wait for me, but my kids are going to grow minute by minute.  And that's more important.  So if you ever stop by the house please don't be surprised if the breakfast dishes are still in the sink or you find a dustbunny or two!   And if you're coming over for pizza night, we'll be having that at the bar in the kitchen.  Our dining room table is way too busy right now.  Very important Lego building is taking place alongside of my attempt at planning next years school year. 

I usually try to decorate this big bay window, but recently it's just where I stop to lay everything down as I walk through the house.  It's a great place for diaper bags, laundry baskets and books.  And the best thing is that I am so consistent that my family now knows where to look for things they have lost!

So June was busy.  It flew by.  We didn't do half of the relaxing, playful, adventurous things we had hoped, but we worked in fun where we could and all is well here.  Hey, it's still summer and there is lots of time to get outside and do the fun stuff.  Except for the fact that we are having a heat wave and we are still fighting this germy cold that made it's way into our house!  

 I hope you all are doing exactly what you had planned for your summer.  I hope you are all being careful in this heat and are keeping cool and safe.  And above all I hope you are happy from the inside out today!  xo