Thrifted

I found my marbles!

 They're beautiful.  I love them.  The kids are going to love them too.

Advent treasures?  Hmm, I'm thinking yes.

When fairies fall...

...asleep, the whole house is quiet.

So very very quiet.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

AX-MAN

 AX-MAN.  This is quite possibly the craziest most incredibly wonderful store you could ever have the chance to visit.  It is seriously strange and filled with all sorts of useless things you never even knew you didn't need.  Unless you're like me and you find all sorts of things you never knew you didn't need on a fully stocked shelf right in front of you and suddenly you find that,  "YES! I do need all of these tiny little bottles with itty bitty lids.  I need them for....for...for something, certainly I need them for something."

 Hmm, yes.   I better come up with something.

Soon.

Getting rid of junk mail

I had read somewhere (actually it was here, in the comments section I believe) this really great idea about getting rid of junk mail for good. Simply take all offending junk mail in hand, write this short clear instruction on each piece and send it back to the sender. So very simple.

I printed out the labels and Owen dutifully put a sticker, sometimes three, on each piece of mail. We then went to the post office. The post office, because we didn't want to offend or trouble our very kind mail carrier lady whom we all love dearly. And why shouldn't we love her she's wonderful, she even gave us our very first chickens from her own batch. Well, the eggs from her own chickens that we incubated but still, you get the point. So yes, to the post office to send off these nasty little demons that are cluttering up all horizontal surfaces of our home. We put them in the box and said, " Ha! Good riddance! Yes take that, all ye senders of offensive mail! And we drove off with our chins pointing up and feeling quite victorious. At least I did, Owen and Carmel were just gazing longingly at the playground that sits next to the post office and wondering why mama might be laughing strangely with her fist in the air again. Anyway, it felt good. It felt as if we did our part in saving maybe a few trees that were to be used uselessly. And it isn't even just the trees, but the fuel and all the other resources used to deliver something that will only be tossed in the recycling bin, which will only use more resources in an attempt to turn it in to something else. Ah yes, the good we did that day. Saving the world, one piece of junk mail at a time. That's us....

Can you guess what we found in our mail box the next day?

Oh yes, only every last piece we had just sent off.

And wow, delivered with such speed.

oh sigh!

I'm taking suggestions...anyone?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Owen has allowed me to post his picture illustrating all the things he is thankful for on this fine day. Have a Happy St. Patty's Day friends!

The Sugaring Tour

As sweet sap began to drip into buckets hanging from the trees in our yard, there was great excitement about what to expect. It was hard to patiently wait until we had enough sap to boil down ourselves. We were all wondering, how will this work? How long will it boil? What will it look like? What will it taste like from our trees? Will it be the same? All of these questions led us on a neighborhood sugaring tour where we got to see at least a couple of different operations.

There was bigger. Small pipes were running in all directions. Bright pieces of stainless steel sparkled against a backdrop of old barn wood. Fires were glowing as they pushed up steam out and over an old barn roof. Gallons and gallons of sap lay waiting in buckets, barrels and tanks for their chance to hit the fire in what seemed like syrup purgatory. Attendants lovingly poured over fogged up gauges to determine just the right temperature for the most deliciously sweet maple syrup I have ever tasted. Glorious.

And then there was smaller. A short walk out to the woods with old fall leaves crunching underfoot. A gentle breeze blowing up the hillside bringing with it the faint scent of fire that was beckoning the gallons of sap it had been waiting for . No gauges. No pipes. Just sweet maple sap, good conversation and a glowing fire. It was beautiful.

There are certainly sugaring operations going on all over right now producing maple syrup on a scale I'm certain I can't imagine and what we saw certainly couldn't compare to that. But there is something so incredibly beautiful about small. Small feels reasonable. Attainable. When I see our neighbors producing enough to cover their own consumption I think, Yes! This we can do.

And how sweet it will be.

Happiness is...

...a letter from grandma and grandpa.

E-mail is great but nothing beats a real letter.

It Grows

I've been feeling a bit unhealthy the last few days as my body tries to fight off (or with maybe, I'm not quite sure) some sort of nasty little virus that has taken up residence somewhere in my head and chest. On my way to bed last night I caught a glimpse of this very round person in the bathroom mirror and thought, "Oh my! That's me! I really am having a baby." Suddenly, after seeing that big belly I felt myself begin to lift out of the illness gloom I had been feeling for the last few days and instead feel so incredibly grateful. Here I am sniffling on the couch with my hanky in one hand and juice in the other feeling completely self absorbed thinking, "Come on here! Can't we get this thing licked? We have nesting to do! Let's speed this whole thing up now! Jeez." All the while, here is my little body working away and responding to my madness with something like, "Hey lady, I'm creating life here. Life. Got it? So why don't you just blow into your hanky a bit harder now, lay down, and let me do my job."

Oh now, that is just such a good idea. I think I'll do that.

Hormones or just plain crazy?

The night before last just as I was about to jump in the shower I said to myself, "Hey, I think I'll lop off all my hair." I thought about it for a bit as I contemplated the proper shower temperature with my hand under the faucet. Well now, I know that pregnant women should never go near scissors because they do really crazy things, but I'm different. I'm not really crazy. So, I thought rather than make such an impulsive decision like all those other crazy pregnant women running around with scissors, I just better go ahead and take my shower first, you know, to come to my senses. After a nice calm relaxing shower I slowly brushed through my hair, tied it back in a ponytail and then began to saw through it with a pair of tiny embroidery scissors that were laying near by. It seemed like such a great idea until I was standing there in front of the mirror with a pair of tiny scissors in one hand and a 14" ponytail in the other. "Did I really just cut off all of my hair?"

{my hair before it was fixed}

Yes, was the answer staring back at me in the mirror. I sure did. I am a crazy pregnant woman. I was startled for a little while and then I thought, hey my auntie does hair!  I bet she'll fix this mess right up. When I called her the next morning this was the exchange:

Me: Aunt Lana, you'll never guess what I did.

Aunt Lana: Did you cut on your hair?

Me: Uh huh...

Aunt Lana: Is it at least to your shoulders?

Me: Well, some parts of it are....you know....cuz...well...you

see, I put it in a pony and....

Aunt Lana: Awe honey. Well, I guess you at least have some

nice layers in there huh?

Me: Hmmm....seems I have a few....

Aunt Lana: I'll be out in a few hours to fix it.

Me: I. LOVE. YOU.

And so, what else can you do but play with that big ol' clump of hair until help arrives?

Making Time...

To be outside just a little bit each day.