Checking in

In the past three weeks, I have driven into Chicago/Evanston six times. For those of you unfamiliar with the geography, that little trek can take anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half depending on exactly where one is going and what the traffic is like. It was a lot. And now, I think I'm home for a while, only doing my normal errands and getting to stay home. I am very excited. So, let'e briefly pretend it's Friday.
  • The reason for this weekend's trips were because of a wedding (of a H-S family child) and because our friends, the H-S family were in town. The wedding was lovely. It's hard to beat a setting like this.

If you look at the picture closely, you'll see the Chicago skyline through the arch.
  • But despite all the driving, we have been getting school done as well. Our project on Friday was for everyone to paint the different parts of the interior of the earth. My children did point out the irony of using Styrofoam, which is definitely not earth friendly, to learn about the earth. 



I don't actually remember whose was whose. The skewers were so they could hold the balls and so they could dry.





  • R. did not paint one, though I had supplies for her. She was too busy teetering on the edge of the abyss. There was a significant amount of time on Friday morning when I truly believed she and I would be staying home.
  • I made apple butter this weekend. I canned 11 half-pint jars and still had over a pint left to go in the refrigerator. I think it is pretty tasty. Another 18 - 20 apples down.
  • I have started reading and set aside three different books this week. It's frustrating.
  • When we brought out the fall books this past week, Knuffle Bunny was among them. It was also discovered that Knuffle Bunny had (more) pages falling out, so I taped them back in. This book has now had every single page taped back. There have been books which have become so ragged tape won't help anymore, so I've had to repurchase them. Knuffle Bunny isn't quite there yet.
  • R. has discovered Knuffle Bunny and loves it.
  • We returned six bags of books to the library last Wednesday. I think our library book collection is now at a more manageable size.
  • Some of you may not have seen our new barn cat.
That's Nefertiti who somehow managed to squeeze herself into one of the stalls of the play stable I had out for my Mom and Tot horse class.
  • The stable next door is still for sale, and I truly wouldn't be too upset if someone happened to buy it for me. Just sayin'
  • The climbing wall J. and various children have been working is nearly done. I'll post pictures of the finished project soon, but here it is in progress.


  • And to finish things off for the evening, how about a nice picture of Bristol with the sun setting behind her?





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Making bias tape... otherwise known as the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Image
( Sorry, the contest is now closed .... though you're welcome to leave a comment if you like.) It's Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway time again.  I love bias tape.  It is so useful and so easy to use... finishing edges ... finishing seams ...  And while the pre-packaged stuff has it's place and I use it often, I really like to have patterned bias tape as well.  Enter one of my favorite little tools: the bias tape maker.  This one make 3/4 inch bias tape and I will be giving one away at the end of this post.  But first, I thought some of you might like to see what it does if you've never used one before. I don't have a rotary cutter, nice cutting mats, or even a proper cutting table (I cut-out things on my floor), so if I can do this, so can you.  Here is my admittedly quirky method. Step 1:  Lay out the fabric and fold a corner over to find the bias.  The woven threads should be at right angles to the part you turned up. Step 2:  Using a ruler and some sort of mark
Read more

Apple picking in the rain

Image
Today was our planned day to go and pick apples.  It was raining off and on, but when it comes to fruit, we don't let a little water get in our way so off we went.  We met our friends and enjoyed their company and picked a lot of apples (3 1/2 bushels).  We also ate quite a few. G.  L. K.  (with an apple nearly as big as his head) P8, TM and L. Now, I don't know about you, but even picking 7 bags of apples does not take us very long.  It's a shame to drive so far only to turn around and go home, so we packed lunches, headed to a park, and enjoyed the now sunny weather. TM and P8 A good day all around.  Of course now I have to do something with all these apples...
Read more

Kenzie on the beach

Image
We have made it back home. I am feeling a little more balanced, but it was hard saying goodbye to a house we've created such meaningful memories in for the past 34 years. I'll write more about both later.  In the meantime enjoy pictures of Kenzie living his best life as a beach dog.  Note the ears blowing in the wind (Photo credit TM) (Photo credit for the rest MC)
Read more