on the kitchen table

Time has been well spent lately with Those Who Live in this House. We have been together in a haphazard kind of way, well, with the exception of the boss who is working a gazillion hours as usual (insert a little sorrowful, bitter, I-want-you-home-but-I-understand-your-job-is-demanding kind of sigh).

Sometimes we schedule fun stuff that costs money…like Beezus and Ramona (we liked it and Henry ate a large popcorn nearly by himself). But mostly the best time spent is around the table doing whatnot and talking all at once usually about nothing. Having all the kids around is a nice treat. The older ones have busy schedules which often adds a high energy of rush rush rush and stress stress stress. I am speaking for myself, I need to stay on course always. Maybe I am strict, I don’t know, but I do know sitting back and watching the teenagers keep wacky schedules with little sleep makes me much more stressed than it does them.

My oldest likes to make collages. She cuts pictures from everything –even books (gasp). She buys books and magazines at estate sales and cuts them to pieces. It made me hyperventilate until I saw the collages she makes. I love seeing what she is working on. I will bribe her to let me share something she has made.

Sam drinks from this huge cowboy boot. When Ken was away Sam was among the first to get swine flu—when it was all over the news and everybody was freaking out. I was insane with worry and kept giving him his boot of liquids. While he was drinking from it we were watching Drew Barrymore in an interview and she said she went to Oklahoma to a bar where they served beer in big glass cowboy boots and how it was so funny. Sam laughed and it was then I knew he would be okay. (Jemm is this a blessing?)

Today I poured choc raisins and crackers into the snack bowl. I left for a few minutes and returned to find one raisin left. They are so nice to leave me one, eh?

Abba was on the record player. Sam and I were coloring with Sharpies, why are Sharpies fun to color with? He colored a shoebox and I drew a ship. PS the smell of Sharpies gives me a headache.

Have you read this? This is the first time I have read Philippa Gregory though she has been recommended several times. Why did I wait so long? I am in love with this book. How is it that being a mistress to the King sounds so romantic when really it must have been horrible?

PS Would you be his mistress if or when he is King?:

making magnets

This afternoon the kids were doodling pictures of each other at the kitchen table. They were laughing really hard because the pictures weren’t very nice. Lots of big teeth and boogers.

I interrupted their fun thinking it was a good time for a project. Only all too soon I realized it wasn’t because everything was a joke and my patience wore out real quick. I was cooking chicken and doing laundry at the same time and I was trying to explain what to do in my happy-mom-voice. Can you guess what happened next? I started yelling. For 10 minutes I stewed and steamed. (And I’m not talking about the chicken) It was some real fun! Don’t you want a play date at my house?

We were able to rescue my mood and soon had some crafty fun.

I think all these supplies came from Michael’s (Hi Leslie).

We painted and glued images onto wooden discs….working on several at a time to let them dry.

These craft paper tablets are from Martha Stewart.

After everything was dry we coated them with Triple Thick, it’s really glossy and almost looks like plastic when it’s dry. I like it a lot. I have urges to label everything and coat over the labels. This might be a problem.

These are Molly and Sam’s magnets. I think they had fun, after the yelling anyway.

nimble hands make happy hearts

When my children have grown and set up shop elsewhere I am certain I will look back on weeks like last week with fondness. We squeezed in a lot of stuff to include some kind of achy feverish bug that slowly wound its way through each of us. Also to include driving home from St Louis in a snowstorm and arriving home with gratitude only to have the power go off within 30 minutes but then realizing after many hours ours was the only dark house on the street. So we flipped the breaker and tried to act like we weren't dumb at all.

It was an eerily quiet day today. I couldn't put myself to any creative use other than drawing cars on a Magna Doodle. I didn't even get dressed!

Enough about my laziness...

Let's talk about simple crafts for girls. And boys mind you as my 12 year old son usually does these things with us. He likes seeing how things are put together...whether it's a potholder or radio. You know what I mean? It's not like he carries around a sewing basket or has his own thimble. But even if he did it would still be okay!

Now that I've cleared that up--

These ideas are from the Molly craft book from American Girl. This book is from my older girls...they don't publish it anymore. But the ideas are simple enough to follow your own. We have loved these books from all the historical dolls. There is no foam crafting with google eyes. These are things your kids can make and actually give as gifts. Crafts that give them confidence in learning new skills. Sadly I think this company is not what it used to be.

Whenever I see these books at yard sales I buy them and pass them along.

The apple potholder is a great project to learn basic edge stitching...using felt and a little batting it's cute and inexpensive.The star whirler was my daughter's favorite. But just be warned someone will get whacked in the face with it.The victory garden in a jar is my favorite. They really like hammering the holes in the cover and picking little trinkets to go in the jars.

These crafts are supposed to be typical of crafts in the 1940's. I would say that I wish it was still like the 1940's but can't for two reasons. There was a huge war going on, eh? Who likes war?

The other reason being Siobhan Magnus. Maybe you don't know who she is (shame, shame). I just plain and simply love her. UJ is the Cape going crazy for her?

Hey look here is a Molly book on ebay that ends in 13 days.

Cheery Cherry Placemats

At Michael's I bought a set of six paper cherry placemats by Mary Engelbreit. I love cherries. I hope you do, too.

I brought them to an educational store to have them laminated into one big sheet of plastic placemats. When I brought them to my car the wind took hold and my son yelled like it was the greatest thing ever.

At home I wiped the table of crumbs- even the ones under the flowers, cut out the placemats and put them on the table.

Pretty easy, even for the laziest among you. I think there were other placemats to choose from if you don't like cherries (gasp).

Placemats: $1.00

Laminating: $1.25 (.25 a foot)

Welcoming of Spring: Priceless

vintage coloring books

Collecting old coloring books...just because.

Farm ones are my favorite.

But Holly Hobbie is a close second.

These remind me of my childhood.

We keep a stack of copied pages for long trips (I can't let them actually color in the books!)

This one was my mother's when she was a child.

Go to the Betsy McCall website for adorable printable paper dolls for several different years.

melting crayons

Melting crayons into new shapes is a fun, inexpensive way to get crafty with your kids...no matter their ages.

We keep our junk crayons in a large five gallon jar. We started this several years ago and I'm amazed at how quickly they add up. Also it's handy to buy old baking tins at yard sales, etc. You can also use a muffin pan. While the wax does come off with some elbow grease it's nice to know you won't ruin anything. I haven't used silicone molds (that can go in the oven) but have read they work well.

Fill the tins half full of peeled and broken crayons. Place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 325 for 5-6 minutes. Be careful when removing from the oven, the wax is liquidy and very hot. Cool for several minutes then place the tins in the freezer for 10 minutes. The crayons will be easy to pop out.

Hopefully between now and Valentine's Day we will make enough to give out instead of candy. Wrapped in cellophane with a red bow they look pretty.

To remove the wax residue from the tins I put them back on the cookie sheet and place in the warm oven long enough to soften the remaining wax. Removing them one at a time from the oven carefully wipe the wax out with an old rag or paper towel. Then wash in hot soapy water.

Other helpful hints....

*Crayons don't melt well in the microwave.

*We have melted crayons in ramekins and tried filling lollipop molds (the plastic kind you buy in the cake decorating aisle) but it was very messy. It worked but not as well as the tins.

* The Crayola Crayon Maker is a $30 piece of junk...this is my (humble) opinion! It takes too long and takes the creative process out of making new crayons.

vanity and an invite

Before


After

The vanity was part of a four piece furniture deal. Do you like it when I tell you how much I pay for stuff? I like it when you tell me how much you pay for stuff. There are many deals to be found. Often people are so overburdened with generational hand-me-downs that they just want to get rid of it. It makes it even better when you can load it on the spot and drive away. Truthfully though I always look naive. I think this is my natural expression. Staying quiet and making a ridiculously low offer puts the ball in their court and more often than not it works out. That is how I paid $20 for all four pieces. All I really wanted was the vanity. I unattached the mirror and though it is pretty I will be using the vanity to sew on and didn't want to be staring at myself all the time.

I usually don't mind grime but won't ever buy something that smells (like cigs or like they had 50 cats). This had lots of what I am guessing is hairspray coated on. I actually used a straight edge razor blade to scrape through it all. Then sanded, stained and varnished and used Brasso on the handles.

Since you're here I might as well invite you in. My sewing corner is in my bedroom. This is what happens when your house is full of children. It is a large room which at first was wonderful having had many tiny rooms over the years. But lately it has slowly been overtaking the bedroom, in a really bad way. With Ken away it is more like a craft room with a bed tucked in. On any given afternoon this room can turn into a wreck with riding toys and kids doing cartwheels while I try and finish something. Makes the old-librarian-lady-who-likes-quiet-and-organization in me go wheely cwazy.

So come on in and do a few cartwheels and Henry will drag in the bean bag chairs so you can jump from one to the other. Apparently this is very fun.

Just don't sit on the bed. That makes Mom wheely mad. Can't I have just one place that stays neat and tidy????

Thanks for coming by.
It's October 1st--that means it's Blogtoberfest. There is a list here of people participating. I'm too busy this month to participate but it will be nice to read through the list.