stocking up

i have been trying to make small steps toward a simpler, healthier and more organized life. this is, of course, an ongoing process. one that often takes one step forward and two steps back in the course of life as it is. one area that i have been brainstorming about is our kitchen cabinet. that's right, cabinet, as in one. we have the pleasure of having only one cabinet for our food. this, i have to tell myself, is the tradeoff for being able to stay at home with our kids. yes, we could have a fancy kitchen, but then i would have to work. but, that is another topic all together.

in our one cabinet, we have all the staples for baking, snacks, pasta, grains, rice, cereal and a few other random things. i have been feeling like overhauling this situation for some time for two reasons. the first is that we buy too many things in boxes and bags, things that we could get in bulk at the grocery store or make for ourselves. the second reason for a clean out is that the whole situation gets to crowded up with almost empty things that we just push to the back to make room for more, and then nobody knows if it's old or not and then it's wasted!

so, i set out one morning, with henny watching from the tower. from my perch on the counter i had three options for the items in the cabinet... trash, birds or save. when i was done, it was beautiful, empty!

next i gathered up all the jars and canisters that i could find. on my next trip to the grocery store i did a thorough sweep of the bulk section. instead of just getting a few snacks for the kids and some nuts, i bought everything that we would eat in an average week. when i got home i filled the cans and jars.

it's not perfect, but so much better. now i can see what i have and know when to buy more. it looks much better than a bunch of half bags and boxes, and i'm saving the environment! i would love to have a few more cans, but i'm going to wait for tag sale season.

for now, what we have in our stock is: oats, nuts (sliced almonds now, but i plan on rotating this as we need to), barley, black beans, bean mix, dry soup mix (actually quite good, i made a pot this week!), rice, lentils, textured vegetable protein and a can that is just seeds and fruit and nuts (the kids LOVE this, i have been getting different things each week and just mixing it around). 

this is such a great step for me. now i just can't wait for the summer to fill our shelves with jars of fruits and veggies!

sewing mini-marathon

this past sunday i had the pleasure to go to our area's BIG fabric store. it's a total destination, full of fabrics that i have no idea what to do with, as well as much inspiration. i didn't really need anything, i was mostly there to help a friend find some fabric. i mainly hunted the remnants, my favorite!

i got some great linen, a few pieces with fun patterns and of course, some silky, girly things for bee. one of the best finds was this mesh net stuff that seemed just perfect for produce bags. i had been thinking about making produce bags for ages but never really saw the right fabric. i saw online that you can knit or crochet them, but that is too much for me. usually the fabrics that i find are more tulle-ish and therefor rip easily. this net is nice and tough. i should have bought about 5 yards! the piece i got was just a remnant that i found, about a yard. i was able to make 9 good sized bags.

they are about a one foot square, sewn up the sides and with a channel at the top. i put a ribbon through because it's what i had, but a string would be nice too.

here is bee helping me photograph them....

while i was at the machine, i felt like i just couldn't stop. i had been wanting to make this little boxy pouch. what a great little pattern. so simple and cute! a sturdier fabric would be better, but it won my heart nonetheless.

also during my sewing marathon, i made a fabric storage box. this was my first use of interfacing. it went well although i'm not sure how strong of a hold the iron-on is supposed to be. it felt less stuck that i hoped, but it worked out fine in the end. i made my box 5" bigger each way than the pattern. it may be a little bit too big, it's a tiny bit floppy, but not bad. the outside is an upholstery fabric remnant and the inside is linen. i LOVE this idea and technique and i can't wait to make more.
all and all i spent almost 6 hours sewing sunday afternoon and evening. i only stopped to put the kids to bed. what a treat it was! and how lovely to have the combination of time, inspiration and materials on the ready! i love when all those stars align.

mud stomping

henny got his first pair of rain boots, and promptly muddied them.

it's going to be a great spring!

love is in the air

there has been a valentine buzz here in the last few weeks. we started gearing up for the big day with making valentine cards for bee's classmates. she had big, big plans. bee envisioned making her cards with a picture of each child on their card. she started off by taking her camera to school and rounding up each teacher and kid for a picture. 

at home i printed all of the (mostly blurry) pictures out to about wallet size. then bee cut each picture out, around the persons body as close as she could get.

i found some cheap heart doily things and bee glued each one on a folded piece of paper. 

next bee glued the faces on, along with a printed message on the inside. she wrote, "dear valentine, i hope you have a wonderful valentine's day. i hope you get a lot of valentine treats. i hope you like valentine that i made you and i love you."
the final step was to glitter, stamp and sign each card. i can't stress how amazing it was to watch and help guide this process. and although i certainly helped with the printing, suggesting and materials, i really did none of the hard work. bee did all of the gluing, the cutting, the glittering and the writing. all of it.
on the morning of valentine's day D and i set up a beautiful breakfast, while henny and bee watched the charlie brown special that i downloaded from amazon (i had never done this before, and i have to say, it's pretty awesome!). 

for breakfast we had heart-shaped pancakes (with tiny heart sprinkles for the kids!) and a few summer peaches that i am now rationing out only on special occasions.
the table was full of cards for each person, a special box of chocolates and a felt cookie for each kid. 

the cards were so sweet and special. everyone worked on them amid whispers in the days leading up. bee tried out melting crayon shreds in wax paper for a card for D, D got out the glitter for bee's card (of course!) but my card from bee took the cake. inside she wrote, "happy valentine's day. you are the best mom in the world. i love you mom. i hope you like this valentine's day." beautiful!

full moon

this picture was taken last night when D and i were doing some adults-only sledding.....

it is by far the best picture i have ever taken (that doesn't include cute kids!). i have no idea how this miracle happened!

and yes, that is the moon!

drawing and stitching

lately bee has been drawing like crazy. she has always seemed talented in this department, but often didn't have the patience to follow through. other times she wold get too caught up in the process and she would end up just going wild with the colors and scribbling and just enjoying the medium. that is fine, but it is so satisfying to see a nice final product, something that really showcases her full potential.

it's usually during bee's rest time that she comes up with her best work. something about all that uninterrupted time, she seems to really focus.

the other day i found this when rest time was over.....

it's an egg: 
on the next page, a few cracks appear:
then a few more cracks:
finally in the last picture, the chick appears:

then there was the series about bee's fish who died a few weeks ago, ursela. the first picture shows ursela when she was alive and kicking, and it says "ursela died":
the other picture shows rose, bee's new fish. it's complete with rose's plant and pink rocks. this picture says, "this is my new fish rose":

another one of my rest time favorites is this guy. look at those teeth:

after watching all of these beautiful drawings being produced, i was dying to embroider one. i had tried this once before but wasn't too thrilled with the results. i read a little more about embroidery and talked to some friends. in the end i tried out a few stitches and practiced using different amounts of thread, as well as different kinds of floss. i got better and better at it as i went. the first few stitches in each area are a little funky. 

i love how it came out, in the end. i can't decide what to do with it. i may just hang it up in a wooden hoop. 

here it is, a ballerina mouse:

see bee-ole!

a few weeks ago my sister's snowmobile found a temporary home at our house. i never imagined that we would have one, although snowmobiling is pretty big time in our country town. the groomed trails go through our back yard and there are miles and miles of scenic trails to get from here to there all around our valley. 

needless to say, D is pretty psyched. he had never really been on a snowmobile much but is learning to love going out for an hour at night and of course tinkering away at it. bee also loves to go on slow rides around the yard. 

but the member of our family who is really interested in the whole world of snowmobiles is henny. if you said he is obsessed, you wouldn't be far off. he spends a good portion of his days lately just looking out the window. he is either waiting for snowmobiles to go by out in the field or just looking at our snowmobile parked out back .

henny reports back to us with what he sees. it's either "no bee-oles!" or it's "see bee-oles!"

when it's not really bee-ole time, henny has been loving snuggling up with D to watch some little videos of snowmobile races on youtube. he just puts his little fingers in his mouth to relax, settles in for the show and bursts out with the occasional enthusiastic "bee-ole!"