In These Hills: January 2009

Loving my fabric stash

>> Saturday, January 31, 2009 – Crafts, winter

We had a great snow day on Wednesday. The girls were up early and ready to sew. In looking back at the day, it's fun to see how much we were able to create out of stuff we had stashed away--from fabric to flour.

I made some bags to hang in our bathroom for storing rags, plastic grocery bags, etc. I just happened to have enough fabric left that they were able to match the curtains.

Lou cranked out some big fluffy pillows for lounging on the floor of her room. She's barely gotten off of them.

She then decided that we needed something sweet so made chocolate cookies....except she put an extra CUP of confectioners sugar in by accident. WOW were they sweet! Each little kitchen mess-up is a lesson, isn't it?

Hels whipped up a new messenger bag out of the leftover dining room curtain material. Here she is modeling her bag next to the curtains. The bag is even lined and has a new pencil case to go with it.

I struggled for too long in trying to make a reversible/strong bag for our library books. I finally did it--it's made out of a huge curtain that I've been cutting up for years!

After the cookies were done, it was time to try out another new bread recipe. I made this boule. Lou made 2 baguettes. YUM. I'm continuing to love Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.
A hint--I don't have a baking stone so cooked it in my pre-headed le creuset casserole. It worked great.

To cap off the day, I finally made a set of curtains that I've been meaning to make for months--they are out of dishcloth material. I hung them on string because, well, it was a snow day and the theme was to use what we had around the house. I think they make our little reading nook in the kitchen look quite cozy.

There are hints of another snow day coming along next week....

Two Ends of the World

>> Thursday, January 29, 2009 – blogging

....no sign of the missing sandals from down under. We dug and dug :)

Hooked on you award

>> Wednesday, January 28, 2009 – blogging

Many thanks to Angela for the Hooked on You award. According to the rules I need to share 6 things that are making me happy and connect to 5 blogs I'm hooked on. So, here you go!

Snow Days--like today! I plan to work for a couple of hours this morning but then I want to enjoy this day.

My work. I love my job. I enjoy everything about it which includes the opportunity to dig into really interesting archives, the time to be creative with what I find, the chance to travel all over the country with a neat group of people and, most importantly, the flexibility to be with my family when they need me....like today!

Although primitive by today's standards and getting a little feeble, I love my Grandmother's sewing machine. It's nearly 50 years old and still running (sort of). We'll be putting it to the test today.

The legacies of my 4 grandmothers--a love of words and libraries, daily homemade bread, a love of games, a love of heritage, an appreciation and desire to make quilts, and so much more. This little pincushion belonged to one of them.

Our children's Waldorf education. While it hasn't been without its stress at times, it has enriched our family life immeasurably and I am so grateful for it.

Saying "goodnight" to our President and Vice President. Ah. That makes me very happy. We watched the inauguration at a local pub. I was so glad to be with friends and a (warm) crowd. I have such hope. I keep thinking if all these millions of people around the world have such hope, that this much good energy alone will help to create change.

nighty night.

Now 5 blogs that I'm hooked on. It's hard to choose...

I'm really enjoying Heather's morning, noon, and night series.
Grace's near:far series.
2 newish blogs to me: House on Hill road and The Little Travelers
and Lovely World --someone who knows my world first-hand!

Snow Day Plans

>> Tuesday, January 27, 2009 – Crafts, winter

For the most part, winter storms make me very happy. Snow days home from school are like a little gift of time dropped in our laps. I've been preparing for tomorrow's storm by getting lots of my work done so I'm free to enjoy this gift of time.

I keep a number of craft supplies on hand just for snow days such as....

Ivory snow flakes to make these fun little guys. Directions are at Family Fun.

Borax for growing snow flakes.

Fiberfill for Lou's current passion of sewing big pillows.

And flour for my current passion of baking bread.

So...bring on the snow!!

Sunday in my kitchen

>> Sunday, January 25, 2009 – cooking, winter

While some people enjoy hanging around outside in sub-zero temperatures.....

....I was happy to be in the kitchen. I had gotten the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book out of the library again to see if I would actually try making the bread. Last Sunday's wheat bread had looked beautiful but wasn't very tasty and had a dry texture.

This week I decided to try the "Artisan Bread" method. We keep our house fairly cool, so figuring out how to find a warm spot for bread to rise can be tricky. The answer? Turn on the oven and bake something else! For these oatmeal cookies, I added finely chopped walnuts for a little extra goodness. Note the beautifully rising, warm bread dough :)

In order to keep the kitchen area warm enough for the bread's second rising, I then made banana bread.

Oh yes. I had a happy family. This week's bread turned out to be delicious. I made an oatmeal bread sweetened with a tad bit of maple syrup. It was moist and had a really crunchy crust.

As you can see, everybody ended up in the kitchen today.

The intention was to be able to serve these baked goods all week....well there's still 1 full loaf of banana bread and a lot of cookies.

Luckily I still have bread dough in the fridge for two more loaves. I'm hooked and can't wait to try some other recipes in the book!

Before and After

>> Monday, January 19, 2009 – Keeping House

2 hours later. 2 garbage bags later. 2 crates of books to the thrift shop later. 1 tub of outgrown clothes later.....

Before: The bookshelf by her bed....

After: (bed still unmade--not my job!)

Before: The Corner of Crap--empty binders "just in case I need one"

After: The corner for listening to books on tape

Before: The Closet--that is all fabric scraps and yarn in there....

After: The Closet

All the fabric in the house is now in one big stash cupboard.

Friends--all found and together again!

WOW does it feel good (to me at any rate). Now we're all inspired to sew after sorting through the fabric stash.

Can you guess which room??? I'll give you a hint: It's not mine.

day in my life

>> Wednesday, January 14, 2009 – day in my life

I almost didn't post this month's "Day in my Life," but then I realized that I might like to make a little book for my family of a year's worth of "Day in my Life's". So here's my day without lots of pictures.

Woke up at 5 a.m. and said "goodbye" to Nels as he headed off to work in Boston today. Cold at 7F today with a wind. Lou complained of a stomach ache and ended up not going to school. Doesn't she look pleased? Hmm.

Hels came downstairs having just finished making a case for her recorders. I had discovered my tenor recorder at school banging around the classroom and threw a fit. It is made from the leg of an old pair of jeans that kids had signed at a birthday party. She sewed fringe on one end and a zipper on the other. She's bringing sharpies to school so everyone can continue signing said leg.

At least the recorder is now safe.

I spent the morning with 8th graders introducing them to part two of their Civil War research project. Interestingly, I introduced part one on November 14th and got to blog it for "day in my life."

Finished with the 8th grade and came home to work at my desk. The house was cold, so turned up the heat. Lou sewed herself a book bag. We had lunch together and snuggled on the couch under a big wool blanket with books for a bit. She seems better :)

Headed back to school to attend Hels' violin lesson with her. Both girls are suddenly making progress. Lou is about to finish book 2, Hels book 3. Hels gets to rent an ELECTRIC violin for a month after she passes book 3, so she's motivated. Passing book 3 means being able to play from memory every song in books 1, 2, and 3.

Got home late after attending a meeting. Nels is in Boston. Omelets for dinner. It's now 5F and due to go to -15 tonight. Not a very exciting day....fairly ordinary for us, but isn't that the idea of "day in my life?"

A Bloggy Christmas Gift

>> – blogging, Christmas

This fall I printed one year of posts from my blog as a gift to my family. This was a goal of mine when I began to blog--to provide a record of our days for the girls.

I used scrapbookblogger.com which slurped up my blog into an online editor. It has a pretty clunky editor with limited layout, but it was the only one I could find that would slurp blogger. The quality of the printing and paper is really nice.

I'm glad to have a hard copy of my 2007 posts (with quite a few edits). The girls have enjoyed pouring through it as well. Does it count as a handmade gift? I decided it did and we opened it on Christmas Eve!

Christmas Gifts for Me (and the birds)

>> Tuesday, January 13, 2009 – Christmas, Crafts, Handmade Christmas

I get to sit at my desk and look out at the birds while I work. Nels made me this birdfeeder for Christmas.

Lou made me this one which is very easy for kids to make. It is made from a sapling with 1 1/2" holes drilled in for the suet and then little holes for the dowels. She managed the drill, pounded in the dowels, screwed in the eye-hook, made the peanut butter/birdseed mix, and filled it up. Younger children could create these if they were given the log with the holes pre-drilled.

So far today I've seen chickadees, tufted titmouse, hairy woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, juncos, and nuthatches all enjoying some treats.

A Handmade Gift for a Snowy Sunday

>> Sunday, January 11, 2009 – Crafts, Handmade Christmas, winter

Hels made a snow measuring stick for Nels this Christmas. She (with her Uncle's help) used a block plane to smooth one side and scrape away the bark, then labeled it with a sharpie.