Tis the season

Last week, I felt like I was half smiling and I took a picture of myself and this is it. I look scary mad like I could punch someone in the face. Time to re-evaluate how I'm really feeling and expressing myself. Lately, I dream of dancing and creating music. Maybe I'll start with some large doses of Vitamin D first though so its not dismal expressive dance and music. Ha ha. But I'm happy on the inside. I think my face skin is just droopy and old like a Bassett Hound.

I'm doing things with my hands though, which is good for my soul. I'm making little dolls like this in abundance for the upcoming Christmas party/Winter celebration and the dolls will be gifts for purchase with Pocket Man.

It's a dark picture, but we're getting ready for the Christmas. My dad brought the potted pine from his neck of the woods (Oregon).

The dollies aren't growing much but Olivia is now 38 1/2 inches.

Running around and dancing in garbage bag suspenders (with supervision!) made for good rainy day play.


Our lovely feathery ladies have begun producing! 5 eggs every two days. Last week I was making a cake and in the middle of it I realized I didn't have eggs--I hate that!- and scurried looking for substitutes, which I use quite often. Sour cream? Banana? Applesauce? Then I remembered we have chickens that are actually useful for something now. And lo and behold, they did have two eggs out there for me. Hoorah! I stepped in poop in the coop, but whatevs!

Here's a picture from my phone. Attempting to take more "everyday" pictures that tell about regular parts of the day. This was lunch. (We don't always have cute bread, but we always have soup!)

About 3 miles away is a park always populated by deer & babies this time of year. We've been going at least once a week since October.


I let Olivia stand in the front seat once we get into the park (safety first!) and we brought hot chocolate since its cold here.

This is something I made lately. Actually, just a couple days ago. Ive been trying to think of a way to resolve my conflict: we don't have a place to hang artwork nor do we have an advent calendar. Then all in about 3 minutes it came together. We had chalkboard paint since I thought of a project in Maryland but didn't do it, and Dave had scrap wood in the backyard from the chicken coop. Bam! Two in one! When Decembers over we'll just use it to hang art. I like it.

Tomorrow I'm hosting a book club for the book dickens wrote. A Christmas Carol. You should come. Id love some k&j time! Leave now!

A thingy type of day

I felted a soap for my friend. It took forever. Not the right technique yet....

But I love the result. It looks like a stone now.

I was looking for a gift for my grandma. 

Yet, I ended up running into so many lovable things for myself....

Namely... a wallet....

A felt bag for my felting wool...

This we borrowed from Kindergarten... love Elsa Beskow books!!!

This sparkly bracelette was found at the dollar store next door...

Last but not least... a super cute frame (for 3 Euros on sale!).

And a super cute, super huge emaille mug.

Seriously, I never buy useless things for myself. 

For my daughter - sure. But for myself...

 I have no idea how this happened!

And I have no idea, why I don't feel guilty this time.

It's just one of these days... I guess.

Felt Flower

 This one above I made myself! (about 1 hr)

Find the tutorial here: http://mysocalledgreenlife.com/2011/07/felt-flowers-my-favorite-project-of.html

It's Fall - check out our fall table!

Chestnut Fun

We got sooo many. All week it's been the big "thing" to play with. We count them, we sort them by size, we put them on the couch, in the bathtub, on the floor, we made fall decoration... simple and so beautiful! Truely my style of playing...

I hope you like jammin' too

I couldn't resist the title.
It's been lively here the last few weeks. Warm. Not raining. Sunny, even. And that's saying a lot since we live in this "Pacific Northwest" part of the country known for its wetness.
But, all that rain brings loads of berries. They literally grow as weeds here; taking over everything else that tries to grow. Luckily, we found a good way to utilize these fruitful weeds here. These days, our freezer is chock full of Ziploc freezer bags full of blackberries. (I know, you love them, too).
Today, I canned. In two hours I did two batches of jam. The first one was strawberry jam (I thought we were all out. Right after I resolved lamenting, I found two freezer bags full of strawberries just begging to be turned to jam.)
I grew up thinking that canning was this mysterious and difficult process. My mom wasn't geared toward kitchen projects, though she is a thoughtful and talented homemaker. So, to me, I feel like I'm doing something that is new and productive. I like the feeling of preserving an otherwise very perishable delicate fine fruit.
On one occasion in the last few weeks, we picked a big box of berries. We carried on throughout the day doing our park playtime, dinner, bath, bed routine and by the time I peeked on the berries at night, the top layer had already began to get fuzzy from mold.
I digress.
Here you have it, Sister. It's what's for dinner. : )



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Weißt du, wie der Sommer riecht?

Crashed after Kindergarten!

My baby just crashed in the car after our little shopping trip. I had a hard time carrying her Kindergarten stuff, my work stuff, our bought stuff etc. - and her upstairs. Uff! She's not supposed to take naps during the day (usually she doesn't want to either, it's not like I'm intentionally keeping her awake!). If she naps only 10 minutes during the day, we have trouble when going to bed at night. Usually it's 1 or 2 hours later than usual at night. Which drives me crazy! That's the reason we stay home during the day or just walk places - bc in the car she'll fall asleep 100%... it also happened in the backseat of my bike recently, which means we can't go anywhere by bike either.

By the way, she's wearing her new "working overalls" ("Schaff-Hos" the kids call them) from Engelhard Strauss. Other Kindergarten parents had recommended them and we all ordered together. They're said to be unbreakable! 15 Euros well invested - I hope so.

We also have chicken!

I just saved 35 Euros buying wood animals at the Ostheimer Outlet near us. A real treat. The shop experience was wonderful - being surrounded by soooo many handcrafted wood animals. The best impression was looking at about 50 baby Jesus' in one row. We had a hard time choosing. Originally we only wanted to get a gift for a friend's 4th birthday. L had also already gotten some for christmas. Then she fell in love with a tree! Which I am so happy about, bc my Mom used to have such a tree when I was a kid (I'm still mad at her for throwing it out or whatever happened with it). So it was a good "excuse" for getting our own. Since most of the items were half price off, I found myself also buying some really small animals for the tree - a squirrel, a bird, an owl and a little mouse. Most of them were about 5 Euros each. Still a lot, but so worth it, considering they're all handmade and everlasting.

Since L has about all the toys she "needs" until she's 10, I'd recommend everyone to add to the animal farm (preferrably animals from our real life experience), if anyone wants to get her a little gift (hello Grandparents, Daddy & Co!).

Beginnings of A Doll

The Waldorf School hosted a doll-making night. Well, it was three hours and I'm still working on it. It was great fun though with about twenty other moms and our kids. Here is the process thus far:






I'm beginning to sew the hair on. Oli and I are going to my dads and I'm taking it to finish while we're there for the week. Wish me luck.


I'm thinking of a name or maybe a name for her will just arise. We'll see. : )

Infinity dress

This infinity dress by "Sew like my Mom" was also inspiration for the one I made. And I think I'll make myself one of those too. Simple enough: It consists of only a few pieces and very few seams. Just my sewing style!

Summer dress copy

 Two nights ago I was in the sewing mood. I haven't had time for this passion in a while. And since I hadn't tried out my new sewing machine yet... I had a piece of fabric laying around for over a year. Hadn't touched it yet, bc I was intimitated by a brand new fabric. Usually I only use fabric from 2nd hand clothes. I didn't want to ruin the new fabric. Anyway... I had bought a summer dress from a chinese store for about 10 bucks years ago. It's slowly wearing out, but it's my absolutely favorite dress. So I decided to copy it. I'm soooooo proud of the result! The first item I made for myself, I'll be actually wearing. So far everything I made for myselef ended up as nightgown or in the very back of my drawers. Things for L are much more simple. Anyway... I finished it until 1:30 in the morning and was so psyched! Next morning Lenara had to take pictures to post... (I love her pics!). What a special moment.

Chicks

These are our laying hens. For now, they're little chicks and Olivia is having quite a bit of time satiating her nurturing side. I hope they stay as docile when they get bigger.







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