snow walks

I remember when I first started dating my husband and I would try to take walks in the snow together. Sometimes we'd just stroll around town or sometimes we'd travel to places and walk around just admiring the natural beauty of a blanketed environment.  This tradition (which he claims was more his than mine  . . . although I beg to differ) went on hold once the kids were born. 

Yesterday morning we all awoke to find a serene white world outside our windows. My kids were so excited!  "Can we go out and play!!!" Once breakfast was finished, I started the hunt for the ski pants, snow boots, hard core mittens and the other various warm things required.  I was very thankful that my pack rat tendencies paid off when I could clothe my daughter in her brothers former pants and boots! 

Once we were playing outside, it occurred to us that we needed to buy a present for a friend's birthday party that afternoon. That's when the idea struck me---we live about a half mile from a local toy store!!  What would Caroline Ingalls do??? She'd walk it!  (or bake something quick, but I don't bake) I thought, even thought I'm walking with little legs, I think a the destination of a toy store would be motivating enough!

So, off we went, down our massively steep hill. At first it was fine . . . then suddenly we hit the steepest part. It was like an ice rink. Daughter is down, son is down . . . and I had a few near misses. Of course the hubby is fine and looking at us like we're not as sure footed as we should be.  I yell out, "Everyone grab a hand!!" Well, that didn't even help, now we were a chain of wobbly people trying to not slide down on our butts. Eventually we abandoned the walk and trudged down in the snow.  I mean . . . what's the point of wearing tall boots if you can't step in some snow once in a while.

Eventually we made it to Main St and were welcomed by a lovely little shop. Immediately upon entering my kids wanted to take their jackets and mittens off. They meant business. It's play time. Off they run to the train table and we take a moment to select our toys and enjoy the warmth.  As lunch time approaches we start to think about heading back. We decided to pop into a local consignment shop next door just before we left. The clerk inside gave us a handful of lollipops to fuel our journey home. Perfect!! 

Let me tell you . . . I'm glad for those lollipops and the fact that the man had the forethought to give me a handful. Let's just say that motivating kids UP a hill toward home isn't as easy as down the hill toward a toy sore. My 2 year old sauntered, squatted, stopped to eat the snow and anything else that she could think of to halt the wheels of progress.  My son lost many lollipops along the way too, due to various reasons (probably mitten related.)  All in all, though it was a great trip and I'm so glad we did it. We were all smiling still at the end of it and I'm thinking that we may just be starting a new tradition to keep for the years to come.

to roll or not to roll . . . that is the question

I am currently in an organizational frenzy. Call it new years resolution, call it cabin fever, call it fed up with clutter.

I am so proud of my little baby steps toward having a better system in the house. An idiot proof system (not calling my hubby an idiot--ha ha)  I had fun raiding Target dollar bins, and the dollar store's organizational aisle and I am now in love with my new shelf in the kitchen. The bottom shelf is all of the kids craft/coloring stuff, the second shelf is their school binders which house all of their "papers" and "art" that I never know what to do with, and the top shelf is our filing system for bills, schedules and all of the other stuff that we have to deal with. LOVE IT!!  Amazing how something so simple makes me giddy.

In addition to my kitchen shelf, I am currently working on my linen closet upstairs. I have saved every towel and sheet from the dawn of time I think and it is exploding all over the place.  So I am purging and re-organizing it and I am loving the fact that I started to roll the towels.  It's pretty and more space efficient!  I am not done with my projects yet . . .but it is definitely a fun way to keep busy this winter when we're trapped inside more that we want to be :)

bad blogger

I've been a bad blogger. Oy Vae!!!  We went from having no heat to having to basically reorganize or life to try to help pay for it.  We ended up pulling our kids out of day care and having my mother-in-law and a friend watch them through out the week. So, the last few weeks have been ones of transition.

The good news is . . .  WE HAVE HEAT and in the recent 20 degree weather, we are thankful!!!

unfinished business

December flew by!  I was swamped with report cards, choir rehearsals, parent/teacher conferences, my holiday concert and of course the usual everyday stuff that goes along with being a working mom. So, I apologize that this blog is long in coming. Despite December's whirlwind status, I have enjoyed every bit of the last few days with my family.

I truly hope that everyone has enjoyed their holidays with their families and friends.  As promised, I told everyone that I would post what holiday crafts I was working on. Alas, I didn't complete any of them. I will gladly share my intentions that my insane month caused a lack luster finish.  Remember my gift theme of warmth?? Well . . . here are the items left in the cold:

It's more of a rag hot pad right now

Item number 1: Rag Rug for my mom-in-law.  They do a lot of camping and will frequently bring rugs along to keep their feet warm when getting out of their cot on those cold mornings (they like to camp in style and opt for a hard cot over the hard ground)

I actually cut all of the fabric into strips and made balls of fabric strings (which took forever) and I even endured many instances of my daughter unrolling the balls. However, I was only able to manage a pitifully small mat the size for only one foot to find warmth.

My darling daughter is modelling it for us

Item number 2: Heart Warming Warmers

This was the start of a rice filled fabric heart. I was going to make a fleecy (removable) cover for them. These are nice to cuddle with or also nice to have around for an aching muscle or two!  I have also added some lavender to the insides to help it smell nice.  Here again, I never even got to sit at my sewing machine to make these little darlings. Caroline would have stitched it by hand . . . in a hard backed chair, sitting by a warm fire, as her little children braided each others hair. I had the warm fire. That is all.

I don't own a folding board

Item number 3: Upcycled Draft Dodgers

For my final unfinished item under the theme of "warmth" are these draft dodgers made from old sweaters. The idea was that I would take a long strip of sweater, sew them into a tube and stuff them with batting. You can then place them at the base of your doors to prevent the outside draft from coming in.  I still have intentions of making one for myself as we are currently using a rolled up blanket for my drafty french doors, but as a gift, these sweaters remain folded in a pile.

housewarming party

What a fun night. This morning I had a random idea to throw a very impromptu party. I called it a "house warming" party because literally it would warm the house. I know it's hard this time of year to be spontaneous with all of the holiday parties, but I was able to gather up some friends for a night of fun and food. When I called to invite people the offer was that I would make the chili if they would bring the body heat. In the end it brought the house up to 75 degrees!!  The kids cheeks were rosy!

I'm not fantastic hostess, we are not bent on formalities in this house. (I even served the kids broccoli straight out of the plastic steam bag---Martha Stewart don't look!!)  I just love that we can all gather around talk, laugh, watch the children play and just have a great time. It's not about whether or not I have matching serving dishes or how I have my napkins folded (wait . . . did I even have napkins out?) it's about the laughter. Thanks to my friends for coming (and even for those you couldn't make it, I know you wanted to.) I feel so very blessed!!!

by the glow of the familiar dashboard light

It's been a rough day. We found out that our heat pump is officially dead. Now to find out exactly where we are going to find the money to replace it. Despite Caroline Ingalls' inspiration, I just don't think it all that practical to live heating our house with the fire place all winter. . . no matter how romantic the notion. 

So, as I am running around tonight,  I was put in the position to take my mother's car. A Jeep Liberty. My first love. I recently had to get rid of my own Liberty and swap it for a mini van and boy was that hard. I loved that car. It was the first new car I ever bought and I drove it everywhere. I was very attached . . . to the point that I cried when I traded it in. I have pictures of me hugging it good bye, I have a picture of me kissing the steering wheel when I finally got it back from a clutch job and I have a pictures of my kids coming home from the hospital in it. It was a member of our family.  So tonight as I am driving my mom's Liberty back to my house to get the "damage" from the contractor on our new heat pump, the glow of the dashboard light brought me back to a simpler time. A time when we had heat. Ah . . . the memories.

RIP Heat Pump 1992-2011

jack pot

 A little birdie told me that a local discount grocery store was selling coffee at awesome prices and that people were really stocking up.  Well, I am thinking, coffee + discounts = me. So today, when another little birdie mentioned that one of the particular brands of coffee was from my favorite mermaid in the whole world, I zipped right on out of work and aimed my van in their direction.  Sure enough, right as you walk in the door there were several large displays of coffee. I seriously think I heard a choir of angels singing.  I couldn't decide what I wanted, so I picked up a bunch because you know me . . . I'll drink it all.

My other objective on this trip was to get more supplies for my "Starbucks/Grandma's nuts" snack mix. I usually grab stuff from their bulk food aisle (see my post about the contents) to make it. I was looking for something chocolate this time and I couldn't quite find what I was looking for. Usually I put in Wilbur Buds (way better than Hershey kiss' in my humble opinion) and they didn't have any. So, I decided M & M's would be a good thing to add. I am looking and finally I spot them. I pick them up and read, "Ernies." What the heck are Ernies? They look like the right thing, but "Ernies?" Really?   I understand you can't use the real name, but aren't the knock off's supposed to be similar so the consumer can figure it out?  Like "N&N's" or something?  Even "Mmmm's" would have worked.   Ah well, I hope my kids like Ernie, because they're eating him.