favorite book friday

around here we really aim to live seasonally. we eat seasonally from our csa and garden, we go out and enjoy the day in all forms of weather, we keep a seasonal nature table and next to that table i keep a box of seasonal books. today's favorite book is from our winter book basket.

i am a collector of jan brett's books.
the mitten is one of our new favorites that i recently found at a local thrift store. it is based on an ukranian folk tale, about a little boy who loses his white mitten in the snow. before he eventually finds it, it is made a home by several animals- everything from a mouse to a bear. when the boy finds his mitten and returns home, his grandmother checks to first see if he is ok, and second to see if he has both mittens. when he hands them to her one is the normal size and the other is the size of a boxing glove.
my kids love to see the the animals piling in the mitten, scared that the owl might eat the mouse, etc. they also think it's hilarious to see the giant mitten at the end of the story!

what makes this book really special are the detailed illustrations. it is set in the ukraine and the clothes the boy and his grandmother wear are amazing. and in jan brett's signature style the borders of the book sum up what happened on the previous page, and foreshadow what is coming up. some of her drawings even look like embroidery. i also can't help but love the fact that the grandma knit these little mittens for her grandson. anything that echos the theme of handmade with love becomes a regular in the rotation for us!

so fantastic!

this is definitely one to add to your winter book list!

moonpie's five

today is moonpie's fifth birthday. it seems unreal that she can be that old. yesterday she told me "tomorrow i'm going to be this tall" standing on her toes. she's also been telling me lately that i won't be able to hold her any more, because she'll be too big. little does she know that i'll be like that creepy old lady in love you forever, driving across town, crawling in her window when she's an adult, just to hold her. our little moonpie, called that by her daddy, "because her face is round, like a moonpie", he'd say. seems like every year that little moonpie face is getting slimmer, ushering us toward womanhood.




moonpie is an old soul- an 80 year old woman trapped in the body of a 5 year old. "mama, come outside! the sunset is amazing!" she hollers to me. she teaches me so much. how to appreciate the journey. how to watch out for tiny 'newborn' acorn hats before they are crushed underfoot. she is the ultimate chicken wrangler

and my hero

but most of all, she's my girl. my creative, responsible, book lovin', wiser than her age, girl. and i'd give the moon and and stars for her to know how big my love is for her. that i didn't know how gut wrenching and vulnerable love truly was until the day she was born. she introduced me to that new kind of love- that mama bear love that is so intense it can be frightening.

so here's to you, my little one...happy birthday!

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check out this beautiful blouse!

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and if you win, give it to me!

favorite book friday

you will see a pattern here on 'favorite book friday'. there are some authors that i can't get enough of, that i love anything they write. and virginia lee burton is one of those authors. katy and the big snow was published in 1943. it has all the elements of a great story! there is peril and there is a hero- and the hero is a girl! sort of...i mean, she's a steam shovel, but her name is katy. there is a detailed map of the city of geopolis, complete with compass rose. that makes the first feature i like, learning map skills. the first few pages have illustrations framed in drawings of big trucks with their official names (helpful to me..."umm, that's a bulldozer", "that's another bulldozer").
on with the story- there is a big snow that blankets the city (that page is just white-so creative!) and the only machine strong enough to plow the streets is katy. she goes through the city uncovering roads. i love how it states that she is going east, or west and the compass rose is at the top of the page, reinforcing the map skills.
apart for my apparent love for map skills (?) the best thing about this book is the theme of hardwork and determination. she gets tired, but does not stop until the job is done. what an important message! i love this book and my kids love this book. little buddy is in my lap right now begging to read it. how's that for a positive review?!?

thrifty thursday

my favorite thrift store find thus far! behold the loveliness of my vintage nesting bowls: $15

hand carding- on the cheap

in december i met an alpaca rancher. as we were talking i mentioned that i was making some dolls for the kids for christmas, and asked if he had any fiber for sale. he did, but then he offered the unsightly leg hair that he can't sell, for free. and, as we all know, i love a freebie so i took him up on the offer. fast forward 2 weeks. i get an email telling me where i can pick up said 'leg hair'. i go to a local shop and come home with a huge, stinky, dirty bag of alpaca leg hair. yes, it was as appealing as it sounds. but i was soaring! i couldn't believe my luck and subsequently called at least 5 people to share.
after shaking, washing, picking and so on, i finally had it somewhat clean. i went internet shopping for carders hoping to find some that moonpie and i could both use. and i did find some. but they were, at the cheapest, $65. now if i'm going to pick sticks out of alpaca leg hair, you gotta know that i'm not paying $65 for carders. so my brain got to ticking and i came up with a solution- dog grooming paddles.



as you can see from the label, these are deluxe. and did i mention that i found them at the dollar store?!? i bought 2 for myself, then i splurged and bought 2 more for moonpie.



oh man, we had fun! carding is hard work, and alpaca sheds, but it was a sweet time to spend with my girl while buddy napped. at one point she said 'momma, i'm so glad i can spend some time with you'. }}}sigh{{{

so here's the bottom line- if you are in need of some natural stuffing for doll making, felting, etc. check your community. drive around and look for sheep or alpaca. then befriend the rancher- you just might luck out too!

i've got it!

for the past year my bread has been tasty, but lackluster. i couldn't get the height i wanted. so over christmas i stole my dad's cookbook (that i bought him last year for christmas) and set out to make the world's easiest/loftiest loaf of bread. and my friends, i am pleased to say that i have met success! and she smells delicious!

so this is what i did. i set my grain grinder on the setting for normal bread consistency. while the grain was grinding i let the yeast dissolve in the water. THIS was the trick. why didn't anyone tell me this before?!? i usually throw the yeast in the flour, pour the water on top and mix. wrong. wrong. wrong. that's all it took. i couldn't believe how quickly it rose, or how tall it rose! man, if my camera weren't out of batteries i would be gloating pictorially, but just trust me. it's about 6 inches tall in the center!

here's the recipe. never mind the squattiness of this loaf. i was a fool in those days!

after all this success, i just might need to take the day off...

the beauty of a moment

out my back window right now i am watching moonpie and buddy play on the trampoline. it's back in the 40's here, so they are rightly bundled in winter coats. moonpie stands at one end, beckons her brother, and he is off, running right at her. with a slight bounce off of each other they crash in a big hug, rolling and laughing. this has been going on for about 10 minutes. and since i can't exactly hear them, i can use the romanticism only a mother can and assume they are hugging (not wrestling) and laughing (not crying hysterically). all of this while listening to my dave wilcox station on pandora, and putting a spice cake in the oven.
what a beautiful moment to sit in...

favorite book friday

i know, i know, two themed posts in a row, how annoying. what can i say? i'm a sucker for a catchy title and i couldn't resist this new blog feature. i've had requests over the last couple of months from different friends for kid book lists. that is how this idea came about. so if you can bear it, i'd like to offer this new blog feature: favorite book friday (i promise, i won't make any more...mandi's menu monday, titillating tales tuesday, wacky windows wednesday...no more i say!)



oh how i love the story of ferdinand the bull! i bought it for buddy because he reminds of ferdinand- gentle and loving, picking flowers for me all the day long. it is a wonderful story reminding the reader that it is ok to be different from the 'herd'. as one of the best children's books written of all time, it definitely deserves a spot in your home library.

thrifty thursday

needlepoint pillow with a very important message for 2009: $4

quick, cheap and easy

we live in an old house. an ooooooooold house. she's about 85. {sidenote: if you indeed are 85, you are not oooooooooooold. you are young and spry and beautiful} because of the age of our house it is impossible to heat. 2 years ago john insulated the attic and that has helped, but old double hung windows, charming in the spring, do nothing to keep out the cold. as a matter of fact, when it is windy outside i can stand in front of a window and my hair blows. at this time we can't afford to replace the 18 windows in our home, so we must improvise. here is a quick, cheap and easy solution i have found.

i bought 4 yards of quilted batting and hung it up. it was really that easy! because of the nature of the product you don't have to sew up the edges (in full disclosure i did, but you don't HAVE to). you can just cut and hang. and to make the deal even sweeter, the kids and i walked down the block to and empty lot full of bamboo, grabbed a fallen piece and brought it home. john snipped off the branches, screwed it into the wall and that was that. i sewed some strips of scrap fabric to the top of the curtain, tied them around the 'rod' and called it a day. i was surprised to find how well it worked. some cold air does get pushed out of the bottom, but there is a drastic difference between when they are drawn and when they are open.
quilted batting is cheap. you can get it for $2-$3 a yard at most fabric stores. here are some other quick, cheap and easy insulation ideas:

1. keep the blinds closed all day until late afternoon when the sun is at its hottest. then open up and let the sun shine!
2. make insulation snakes to lay on window sills and door thresholds.
3. tape bubble wrap to the windows. be sure to cover all cracks and openings. classy and affordable!

seed saga

well, i've narrowed down the seed selection to 58 varieties. hello!?! this is bad, very bad.
ok- i've got to buck up and make the cut. i can't be swayed by the beauty of the purple smudge tomato or the brawn of those butter beans. i need to stick to what i can use and what i can grow.
this is like speed dating. i have to make a choice and stick with it...those transplants need to get started.

a lesson in hope

it has been 10 days since receiving my seed catalog, and i have yet to make a decision. sure, i've poured over it, circling what i'd like to have, not for once taking into consideration that i don't live on acreage. what is a girl to do when faced with 120 pages of glorious, heirloom seeds?
here's one thing we've decided. we want to renew our csa membership. we feel that even if we were able to produce all of our own food, we would still like to support our friends/farmers. so with that we know that we should plant seed varieties that our csa farm does not offer. here are the categories we've come up with:
beans- mainly for drying/storing for winter (vegan chili anyone?)
peas- we can't get enough of 'em, and we need some climbers for the kid's 'living' tee pee
cucumbers- only pickling varieties
tomatoes- we get lots of these from the farm, but i can't resist (however i'm only allowing myself 8 varieties- the catalog has 20 pages of heirloom tomatoes! argh!)
herbs- both medicinal and culinary (i seem to lean towards the thai culinary herbs)
cutting flowers- for bee attracting and morning harvests with the kids
that seems sensible enough, right?
oh this catalog, it makes me want to rush the winter and get to the warmth of spring when i can be elbow deep in dirt. gardening, whatever the scale, is a lesson in hope. putting something out there, hoping to get something in return. and we've chosen to go public (ie: the front yard)with our garden, so we have a lot out of hope hanging out there, just waiting...but i suppose winter has its own lessons to be taught ***err*** one of patience, perhaps? resting? preparation?

so as i rest in this season, patiently awaiting spring, i will think of the construction of our new raised beds, our tee pee, the planting of our fruit trees, the aroma of herbs...but i won't push it. spring will be here soon enough; until then i'll delight in a warm house, lots of time for stories and fresh baked bread, and of course, my new knitting habit.