Stop the Insanity!!!

This photograph pretty much sums up my day if you can imagine this as a 31 year old mama instead of a pitiful cute baby with a scrape of his forehead. There was rampant crying, weeping and gnashing of teeth. All seven of us took turns at the crying, weeping and gnashing of teeth. So that's the way some days go, sometimes lots of days in a row go that way. By God's sweet grace and the promise of bedtime to come, we get through them. I've been thinking about Ecclesiastes 3:1 and that there is a time for all things, for every purpose under heaven. Two parts grabbed my attention; a time to gain, and a time to lose, a time to keep, and a time to throw away. Over the next few days I'm going to be thinking of what God wants me to gain and what He wants me to loose. What I need to keep and what to throw away. I know there will always be a good deal of insanity around here, what else could there be with 5 (soon to be 6) kids under the age of 7 but I keep praying and trusting that I'll be able to keep up with it all and come out on the other side in relatively one piece. I hope so anyway!

Tea and Tea Cups

Curling up under a quilt with a steaming cup of hot tea and a book has been my antidote to the endless gray skies and cold weather that have inhabited the world outside my windows. In this picture you can see one of my favorite tea cups and also one of the first I had in my collection. When I open my cupboard there are multiple kinds of cups and mugs to choose from, depending on my mood. There are thick old diner mugs, one that is tiny, perfect for enjoying a "half a cup" of coffee. Several are hand thrown pottery mugs including one made by a wonderful friend in her pottery studio. I have a pair of tea cups with matching lids I use for herbal teas. The most special part of my collection though is the set of mismatched tea cups I inherited from my grandmother. She ran the china and bridal registry part of their jewelry shop and at her house she used the extra pieces from the store for her everyday dishes. When I was preparing to set up my own house, she and I went through her "extra", extra pieces and I chose twelve settings of china for my future home. Now that she is gone I love to look at all the beautiful patterns and remember my Mamaw who used fine china to serve every meal because that's what she had. Whoever thought making do could be so elegant? So when I am feeling elegant or missing my grandma I get down the stacks of miss-matched tea cups and saucers and search through them for the perfect one for that day and brew myself a cup of tea. Comfort in a cup!

February Cheer

Not really too much cheer happens for me in February. Gray cloudy skies for days on end, kids trapped inside for days on end, all the Christmas chocolate is long since gone. I have found that any cheer has to be intentionally searched out and celebrated. One thing that I love to do is iron my growing collection of hand embroidered linens. They are pieces that I have picked up at garage sales or flea markets, a few have been gifts from my mom. So I get them out, spray on some heavy starch and iron away. After they are folded in a neat stack, I display them in their chosen place.

I love this one on my bedroom dresser. It covers the whole top and looks lovely against the light colored wood. Entirely hand embroidered, I am amazed by the delicate work of this cloth. That some homemaker took what she had, fabric, thread and a needle, and made this beautiful work of art that has probably outlasted herself is thrilling to me.

My sideboard is where this scarf resides. The creamy linen is a perfect contrast to the warm colors of the cedar. I picked it up the same day I found the sideboard at a little shop down the road from my house and it is a rare find in that is in pristine condition. Seeing these lovely things, nicely ironed, as I move through the general chaos of my day makes such a difference in my outlook. If you are feeling a bit blue lately, try finding something you can do or change in your home and see if that helps you a bit. Or do what my mom always recommends and make yourself a big plate of pasta. Or do both, I think I just might!

Snowy Monday

We woke up to a fresh layer of snow on top of the remains of the snow from the weekend. Our morning has included hot biscuits for breakfast, math from the new workbook, letters made out of salt dough, tent making, a computer induced meltdown and lots of dishes washed. Lunch was a pot of cream of broccoli soup and a loaf of wheat bread still warm from the oven. Before I go tackle naptime I want to share a quote from my precocious four year old. "One hand rose up like a little rose in a flower bush, sprinkled by the sun." Monday is a good day after all.

Accidental Science in a Pan

I've been working on a couple of fun trash to treasure projects to post today for the Trash to Treasure Tuesday at Reinvented, but something is wrong with my memory card. It seems to have no memory of it's job of transferring photographs from the camera to the computer so instead I am going to regale you with the tale of my grungy burned pot that was rescued and formed cool crystals during the dark and stormy night while we all slept peacefully in our beds. Kind of a trash to treasure story in a way. Also, a good housekeeping tip for those unfortunate times when you burn something in your favorite pan and no amount of scrubbing and scouring can remove a smidge of it. Not that any of us burn anything to the bottoms of our favorite pans, but in case some unthinking person should burn something in your favorite pan, now you can work a little kitchen chemistry and salvage your pan.
Above you see an example of a pan with a nice layer of black gunk, pour 1/4 cup of Borax in your pan, add some water, bring it to a boil and let it sit overnight. In the morning rinse out the pan and wipe/scrub out the black gunk and, ta-da! your pan is like new! Last time I did the Borax water treatment on a pan, in the morning it had formed these cool crystals. I was amazed, I showed my kids, they were amazed. If I had been a really awesome homeschool mom, we could have researched why borax and water made these big crystals but I am low on the really awesome factor lately so we just looked at them. Then I set about to clean my pan.
Yeah! What a nice shiny non-black pan that is! By the way, if you aren't familiar with Borax you can get it in the laundry section of any store. It is great to add to any laundry, especially linens and cloth diapers, you can do general cleaning with it and tough cleaning jobs (like charcoal in a pan), and I use it to make laundry detergent. My favorite use for it this year was a safe and 100% effective ant killer. Following the Great Ant Invasion of 2009 I made some ant killer with it and finally got rid of the sugar ants that had moved in with us. Everyone I knew had ants swarming in their house. I was so excited about my ant killer that I considered patenting the stuff and handing out samples at the grocery store but then I remembered that I would have to take all the kids with me so I decided to just stay at my ant-free home and read. So, get you some Borax and you will be prepared for any emergency that involved burned on crust or small crawling insects. You will be prepared!!

Backyard Campers

Last week the boys had a camp out in the back yard. Joe set up his old tent and they spent an hour hauling their pillows and blankets out there and arranging them just so. While I was washing up the dinner dishes, I watched them play. Two little boys, full of life and zeal, playing and enjoying their high adventure 20 feet from the back door. In the setting sun they looked like a life size shadow show, I could hear their shouts and laughter all the way in the kitchen. After the sun set, we settled down to a movie and heard the door open for the first time, little brother reported that big brother was afraid of the cricket sounds, 5 minutes later another report of the scary cricket sounds, 5 minutes later Joe went to check on the next report of scary cricket sounds, 10 minutes later the campers were willingly carrying all their bedding inside and assuring us that next time they would not be scared of the cricket sounds. I have a feeling that backyard camping will be a new summer tradition around here and in a few years they might even sleep out there all night!

Cubbie

One night this week after everyone had been tucked in, prayed for, kissed, hugged, helped in the bathroom, tucked in again, had a drink, reminded to be quiet, made to lay down and stop jumping, reminded to be quiet, and kissed one more time, a strange thing happened. Everything was peaceful and quiet. Strange huh? No, just kidding. I heard a funny sound coming from the general bedroom area, with a scowl on my face I heaved my exhausted self up out of the chair and went to investigate. Creeping down the hall to the two closed doors so as not to give myself away, I paused to listen for the suspect sound. There it was, coming from the nursery where the baby and the sisters sleep. Whipping the door open, ready to enforce my maternal authority I see two bright eyes peeking up at me from the baby's bed. His mouth is screwed up into a little wad and a copious amount of bubbles are hanging suspended from his lips. He has learned to sputter and blow bubbles! Needless to say, my maternal authority turned to mush and his accomplishment was rewarded with getting out of bed to be hugged and kissed. Also, his list of recent accomplishments has grown to include army crawling and learning to glean for food under his sister's chair after meals! Hello vacuum cleaner, my new best friend. I mean the real vacuum cleaner not the baby!

Pirate Baby!

Big brother recently acquired pirate patch and as you can see Cubby is game for a little fun on the high seas, or in the excersaucer. He's not too picky about his entertainment or what happens to him, thankfully. When your the 5th, you can't be too high-maintenance! The blurred picture is inevitable with this one, he never stops kicking and jumping. So fun to nurse, as you can imagine!