Busy Hands Homestead

There comes a point during the day where I get frazzled. The living room has come unraveled, dinner is not quite started and I am left wondering what exactly I managed to do all day, because it feels like NOTHING! I know that is not true, so yesterday, as a project for myself I wrote down everything I did for the day. This Wednesday was more like a Monday... a day I dread at times, because I clean up the weekend mess that always happens despite our best efforts. Monday this week was a holiday, so everyone was home, and Tuesday morning I spent sipping coffee and indulging in pastries with a friend... so none of my usual clean up got done. So here was my Wednesday: (7:00) I lay in bed. I woke up screaming a few minutes ago because Sylvan chomped down on my nipple in his sleep, and in my half sleep I was convinced that there was blood. Thankfully, it was my imagination playing tricks on me. I dress myself, Ivory and Sylvan. I make a smoothy: home canne...

     Today is a no school day. There is no school today, tomorrow, Friday or Monday. I have been looking forward to this stretch of Ivory being home. She seems to not look forward to school as much as she used to, and is often quiet and sullen when I pick her up. When I ask her about it, the most I have ever gotten out of her is: “_______ was not my best friend today”. I have to remind myself that she is only 3 ½ and that she probably just lacks the vocabulary to discuss her feelings. When I went into her classroom to get a feel for what was going on, it was fruitless. I spent the entire time reading to her and some of the other children, and that turned out to be her worst day yet. I am dreading the upcoming Parent Teacher conference. But,      Today is a no school day. We eat heart shaped pancakes. I put away laundry, while Ivory pretends to lead her class in pajamas. She has been begging to go to school in her purple pajamas, and...

I spent the afternoon pouring over pages of old copies of Ceramics Monthly, sketching down the forms and shapes I like, trying to find my own voice. This is a perfect use for the journal a dear friend made for me.   I am so excited to try out some of these ideas during my class tomorrow!

      I really wanted to make a stuffed tree with a few little birds sitting in the branches for Sylvan's first birthday. I had finished the trunk, cut out the canopy and needed to make the birds before I sewed the rest of the tree together. So, this Saturday I stubbornly sat in front of the sewing machine and attempted to sew a bird. I was frustrated, really wanting to go outside into the sunshine, but sometimes, I just can not quit (even if I should). Try one had a small pointy head. Try two over compensated and I ended up with a bird with a giant head and small body and ugly duck bill. On the third try I finally created a little stuffed bird that was closer to what I had imagined.       So here is the pattern I came up with: Print onto a full sheet of paper and it should be to scale.  This is a perfect scrap busting project.  Cut two bird shapes, 4 wings and one belly. Sew the pleats into the top of the bird head...

     For weeks Ivory has been begging for marshmallows. But, every time we have made the trip to the grocery store we somehow managed to forget to buy marshmallows. There was no ulterior I -am-going-to-save-my-child-from-excessive-amounts-of-sugar motive. I just forget. As we pull back into our drive way Ivory will pipe up in the back seat: “Mama, you didn't buy any marshmallows.” I sigh: “Oh, Ivory, why didn't you remind me at the store?”      And then I remembered that Adam had heard a story on NPR in which they made marshmallows from scratch. It is really simple and to my amazement I had all the ingredients except for gelatin. So a quick run to the grocery store later, I finally manged to whisk together all the ingredients into the fluffy white cream, spread it on the cookie tray and tuck it away for a the short wait until the next morning we can finally sample them.      The next morning I pulled the cookie s...