adoption update

The update for now is that we are waiting.  Waiting for our training in (fingers crossed) February.  After that the home studies, fire inspection and choosing can begin!  I spoke with our case worker last week.  When I asked what I can be doing RIGHT NOW she said that I can begin working on our family picture portfolio.

Any advice on this???

We have also begun our adoption fundraiser through Just Love Coffee.  It is a fair trade/ organic coffee company that allows adoptive families to fundraise for their adoption expenses.  For every bag of coffee sold through our shop page we get $5 towards our adoption!  If you are thinking of purchasing coffee for friends and family this year for Christmas, would you please consider supporting our adoption in this way? (i'm pretty sure i'm blushing right now as i am shamelessly asking for support- sheesh!)

thrifty thursday

I haven't done a thrifty Thursday post in...a while.  Probably over a year.  I don't want any of you to be worried though!  I still hit the thrift store almost every Thursday.  Phew!  I know, what a relief!

I always thrift with my children.  Our thrift store sells children's paper backs for $.25 a piece.  We hit half of the store and then make our way back to the books.  They sit for about 15 minutes and look at books.  They can then choose their favorites, and we move on to the second half of the store.  While I'm digging through sewing notions, they usually just sit and look at their books.  Sometimes they dig with me if they are trying to replenish their own crafting supplies.  I know lots of people thrift alone, but this system at this stage in our lives works for us.  And truth be told- I really do enjoy their company!  It's fun having someone to model crazy hats with!

I realized a while back that thrift shopping can be as big a trap for me as the Kohl's one day sale is for other women.  If I saw something that I liked, I jumped on it with little thought.  I began to feel conviction over this, because spending is spending.  And rarely it is about the amount, but more so about the accumulation of stuff.  We like living small.  Small living requires discretion about what comes into the home.  I really had to realign my thrift store spending.

With that said, I have a confession.  I have restraint problems when it comes to vintage trays.

Exhibit A)

This is where it all started for me.  This mid-mod mermaid tray.  Here is a close up of the detail:

Isn't she lovely?  And I truly had noble intentions for this one.  I needed a place to hang my chicken scratch recipes that I scribble out while I'm making something.  These trays are magnetic!  Yes!  Beauty with function!

Here is what it usually looks like:

 Recipes stuck to it, surrounded by crazy ingredients.


And then along came Handsome Man:
Exhibit B)

This guy is huge.  And oh so lovely.  Here's a close up shot:

He guards the cookbooks.

And then, the little ladies:
Exhibit C)
(these pictures are horrible.  sorry about that.)

I like to pretend these little ones have a purpose.  I use the top one for guest's jewelry and the bottom one for Moonpie to use as a sorting tray for her math work.

Moonpie working out her tens and ones.

So that is the collection.
So far.

How about you?  Any thrifty treasures you have a hard time saying no to?

calendula lip balm

Buddy's lips became very chapped this weekend. Seems like anything I tried to put on him burned. We decided that it was the perfect opportunity to make our own calendula lip balm.

When I began setting out the supplies to make this and to start my vitex tincture on the window sill, I was thinking about how not too long ago, this is how life was lived. If you wanted an herbal tincture, you made it. If you wanted lip balm, you stirred up your own batch.

 There was an elderly woman that I grew up with who, on the first word that you weren't feeling well, made up a batch of "recipe". That's what she called it! "Recipe"!!! I called it voodoo juice. It was essentially honey, brandy and lemon juice. It was horrible. Oh how it burned. But you know what? It worked. There is something to be said for the grandma's who kept their families healthy with a batch of "recipe".

When I'm in the kitchen working up one of my herbal remedies, or homemade body products, I feel like I'm connecting with all of those strong women who were before me, caring for their families out of their own kitchens.  I love that feeling.


There is a basic recipe for making a balm.  It is essentially:

 one cup of herb infused oil (any combination you choose)
 one ounce of beeswax

 For this lip balm, I increased the beeswax to 2 ounces and used a mix of calendula oil and coconut oil.

Moonpie and Buddy helped grate beeswax from our giant 10 pound block we bought from a bee guy.  

We measured out one cup of calendula oil that I had made in the summer.  Making your own herbal infused oil is easy.  So easy!  To make this I bought a pound of dried calendula through my Frontier co-op I run.  I filled up the jar to the top and poured a good quality olive oil over it.  Put the lid on and let it sit for about 12 days, shaking daily.  That's it.  See?  Easy!

I don't have a double boiler or any junk pans lying around.  So to make the final product we poured the oil into a jar, and placed in a pot of water.  I turned on a low heat and waited for the oil to warm up a bit. Then I slowly added the beeswax, stirring every once in a while with a wooden skewer.  I used the skewer because it is long enough to be safely used by Moonpie as she helps.

After the beeswax melts and is sufficiently melted in, it is ready to be poured into containers.  I had some on hand that I purchased through Frontier.

Here is a tiny little picture for you!  I couldn't blow it up without making the resolution all crazy!

Then we set them out on the counter to solidify.

I love the feel of this lip balm.  It is so smooth and soothing.  And Buddy will actually use it (sometimes) because he made it.

poem of the week

We are battling colds around here leftover from the weekend.  When the children are feeling under the weather it is a good reminder to slow down with a stack of books, some knitting (Moonpie casted on for the first time last night!), and castles made of blocks.

Our poet focus this year is Robert Louis Stevenson.  I like to choose a poem a week for us to read daily during our morning circle time.  This poem seemed fitting for the week:

Block City 

 from A Child's Garden of Verses

What are you able to build with your blocks?

Castles and palaces, temples and docks.

Rain may keep raining, and others go roam,

But I can be happy and building at home.

Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea,

There I'll establish a city for me:

A kirk and a mill and a palace beside,

And a harbour as well where my vessels may ride.

Great is the palace with pillar and wall,

A sort of a tower on the top of it all,

And steps coming down in an orderly way

To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay.

This one is sailing and that one is moored:

Hark to the song of the sailors of board!

And see on the steps of my palace, the kings

Coming and going with presents and things!

Now I have done with it, down let it go!

All in a moment the town is laid low.

Block upon block lying scattered and free,

What is there left of my town by the sea?

Yet as I saw it, I see it again,

The kirk and the palace, the ships and the men,

And as long as I live and where'er I may be,

I'll always remember my town by the sea.

If you are looking for a lovely addition to your library, might I suggest A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, with illustrations by the dear Tasha Tudor.

Looking for a great set of blocks?  We prefer the standard unit blocks from Melissa and Doug.  I was fortunate enough to find a set on clearance at a store!  (the blocks in the picture above are M & D castle blocks.)

calendula

me- utterly excited!

 I bought myself a whole flat of calendula today!  That's 20 plants, thank you very much!  If I had to choose just one perfect flower, it would be calendula (with zinnias coming in a close second).  Calendula is both useful and beautiful.  They like to be picked on, every time you pull off a flower head, more grow.  When I dead head the plants I infuse them in olive oil.  With my infusions I make balms, salves, and I'm hoping to make some lip balm soon.  I'm going to be posting on the specifics of this project very soon.

I have never seen so many varieties of calendula.  I bought some Yellow Pacific, Pink Sunset (my favorite), Orange Porcupine, Yellow Pom-pom and Orange Pom-pom.

I saved one of the Pink Sunset variety and put it in an old pumpkin can.  I'm passing it on to my dad for his birthday (along with those onion shoots).  Because really,  what good is all that beauty if you can't pass it on?

inspiration from the intrawebz

Autumn Mobile from Bird For Bread Studio

Look what I just found on Design*Sponge.  I LOVE it!!!

{{{I have a feather thing right now}}}

Buddy and I are off to the chicken run to gather some feathers.

I don't have any forged copper leaves lying around, but I'm sure we can come up with something!

halloween

Seems like we spent the entire week celebrating Halloween.  I know we didn't, but the sugar induced crazies sure do make it feel that way!

On Thursday we made our annual Halloween trip to the Nursing Home.  We decided to hand out bananas this year.  Moonpie made little tags and tied them to each banana.  Buddy added heart stickers.

I grew up visiting nursing homes with my parents.  It is such a gift to me to share this experience with my children.  I love seeing Moonpie's comfort and delight around the elderly.  Buddy is still very shy, but he will stand by my side as I visit.  They are charmed by his bashfulness and that sweet little face.

Here are all of our precious friends that joined us!

Ooh look!  A sneak peak at my freshly painted doors!

On Friday we attended a party.  Moonpie was very distraught by the idea that I wasn't going to be dressed up.  So at the (very) last minute I became country mouse from Town Mouse, Country Mouse.  The funniest part to me was that I was already wearing this outfit. I just pulled up my hair into ears and drew on my nose and whiskers!

On Saturday the kids went to a halloween festival with their papa and mimi.  By Sunday I was declaring war on candy and "any food that comes in a bag!!!".  

On halloween night my brother-in-law was married.  We had tons of fun and because of all of the merriment leading up to the big day, we didn't even miss trick or treating one little bit!