Killin' Time

I saw this project for a cute shopping bag in a couple of places (one was here). Since we were looking for ways to pass the time while Tony was away, we decided to try it.

Look how cute (and EASY!) -

This is how you do it -

Turn the kids' t-shirts inside out and sew straight across the bottom. Turn it right side out (or, "inside outside it", as Bear would say) and cut the sleeves and neck off.

Voila!

Yes, that's it! And, you're being green to boot and recycling your kid's (or your) favorite shirts.

Homeschool Room - Again

It's coming along. We have furniture in the room, and I don't feel like passing out from the fumes everytime I go in here.

What do you think?





I think I need a new rug. And, curtains. Oh, and a white board.

But, like I said - it's coming along.

I have stopped decorating so I can plan the actual schoolwork for this year.

That might be important. :)

So far, Bear is quite content playing with the pencils on her desk.

That's fine with me. We'll work on Trigonometry later.

The kids all picked out their reading pillows (on the floor, there behind my desk). They have good taste - soft, feather pillows. Ahh... hopefully, they won't fall asleep during our reading time.

I'll post the Grand Finale when I get something on the walls.

Homeschool Room Update #2

To be more accurate - it's not the homeschool room.

Just the closet.

It's amazing to see all of our stuff all lined up.

And, I know where everything is!

Take a look around the corner -

I know.

I will have to take another picture after school starts to see how long this lasts.

Homeschool Room Update

The homeschool room is coming along nicely. I finished painting it and I luuuuuvv the color!

As much as I try to avoid all things Martha, I have to admit ...

the woman knows her colors!

I was looking for something both cheerful, yet peaceful. Nothing too bright, but I couldn't have the kids falling asleep in school.

I think it is beautiful. This room just makes me happy - and that's a good thing (pun intended :)) when I am schooling 4 precious little ones.

We are still working on the layout of the room, so I am only posting the color of the wall. I included a few cute kids because I didn't want to just post a picture of my wall.

I will post again soon with more updates!

Finally - Proof I've Gone Insane

The start of school is nearing. Time to plan a year's worth of studies for 4 children. What does that mean?

Paint the school room and completely re-arrange everything!

Yes, we had all summer to tackle projects like this, but - that's just how I work.

Fortunately, I was smart and hired some helpers.

Wait.

I think the paint fumes are affecting my brain.

Those aren't hired help.

They're my kids!!!

By the way - that's not the paint color. It's the super-primer I needed to try and cover the Aggie maroon.

Harvest Time

I am so thankful for the produce section of my local grocery store. I have complained in the past about the produce not looking so great. Now, I am going to be impressed with whatever makes it to the store.

I thought we would try a small garden this year. I have never had much of a green thumb, so I started small. Square foot gardening sounded perfect for me. I knew it would work. So, I put Tony and the kids to work and we started one 4X4 ft. garden. Enough for sixteen little planting areas. I knew it wouldn't be enough to fill our produce need, but I could supplement at the store. Yes, supplement. I stuck with "easy to grow" plants. The ones they usually recommend for kids' gardens since they are so easy to grow a kid could do it. Apparently, I should have let my kids do all of it.

Let me share a little of our harvest:

Okay - that's not just a little of our harvest. That's about it! I can't even make anything with that. I guess I can just throw them in the salad tonight. I thought beans were supposed to be a no-brainer. And, I didn't even know I planted cherry tomatoes. I also planted squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe, radishes, carrots, etc. Maybe I am not being patient enough. But, the radishes even flowered out without the radish at the bottom. I'm not claiming any gardening knowledge right now, but I really thought the plants were pretty much done producing once they flower out.

I guess if we were farmers, we would starve. I'm pretty disappointed. I have images in my head of being like Laura Ingalls Wilder. Living out in the wilderness and being able to cook and sew for my family. I wouldn't really want to live that way, but the realization that I couldn't even if I tried is heartbreaking to me.

At least it's just plants. I can throw them in the compost when I'm done with them. I don't feel as bad when I mess up the gardening as I do when I mess up with the chickens. They don't seem to appreciate being my practice chickens.

Farmer Wannabe.

Look how cute these baby chickens are! Are we farmers now? We have a tractor and now we have chickens. Not very many chickens. Okay, four chickens. Maybe we're mini-farmers.

These things are so cute. I can't wait to see them when they get bigger. They are Silkies and Sizzles with the poofy, fluffy hair. I'm hoping they are not all roosters. What are the odds of that happening?

I feel bad for the Silkies. They are 4 weeks old and losing their little chick fuzz. They kind of look like they have a bad haircut. They don't seem to be too embarrassed about it though. The little black ones are the Sizzles. They are supposed to get fluffy too, but with curls.

I can't remember what started the whole thing, but Bear and Car decided they wanted chickens. I thought chickens would be fun to have also, but I couldn't get Martha Stewart out of my head whenever I thought about actually getting some. (like she actually got in there and fed and took care of them like she made it look.) But, here we are starting this new adventure. Hopefully, the dog won't get them. She just stands outside their cage drooling. That's probably a bad sign.

I have to admit. We don't have a purposeful reason to raise them. They could never supply our egg needs, and we will never eat them (although the dog may). I guess they are just for fun, and that's okay. We will enjoy watching them grow, lay eggs, scratch around, and whatever else chickens do (we'll soon find out, won't we?).

Does this mean I have to relinquish my farmer (or mini-farmer) title?

Mother Knows Best

I have been on the hunt for new chairs for my kitchen table for a while now. They were looking pretty bad and falling apart, so I thought I definitely needed new. My mom mentioned I should just re-finish the ones I have, but I quickly dismissed that idea when I thought about all of the paint and drying times and re-covering seats and searching for fabric to re-cover seats and - yeah, right!

Then, Heidi over here challenged her readers to share their latest project. Well, you know me. I'm always up for a good challenge. Not really, I'm not very competative at all. But - I needed new chairs, so I decided I had to try something. And, when will I start listening to my mom?

Well, here is the before on my sad, faded, scratched up chairs. My dad kindly glued the joints back together for me before I got started. I was so afraid we would have someone over and the chair would bust right out from under them.




Here is the chair now. I went with a matte black paint to go with my black kitchen table. Can you tell I like yellow? I found that material at Hobby Lobby on clearance. It was $24.99/yard and was on sale for $4/yard. That's quite a bargain, if I must say so myself! How's that, Heidi?