Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Giveaway Day! Strawberries in Winter...

Sew Mama Sew is hosting a giveaway day. Today they will post a master list of bloggers and web sites that are giving away something. After you enter my giveaway, pop over there and see what else you might want to try to win. The giveaways listed must be either handmade or something that can be used for making handmade gifts (fabric, ribbon, etc.).


My Giveaway

Something for the kids: I just made wool felt strawberries for a stocking stuffer swap. They were fun and easy to make following this tutorial. My giveaway is for 5 of these wool felt strawberries. They have made a wonderful addition to the play kitchen at our house. They would make a great stocking stuffer.
Something for Mama: My dear friend Ginger just gave me more fabric swatches. Several are just the right size for a nice tote bag. So, Mama can win the tote bag pictured below. It has a bluish side and a whitish side and is made out of decorator weight fabric.





To enter: Please leave a comment (don't forget to leave your email address if its not available on your profile). While you are here, I'd love you to take a moment and wander around my blog or at least bookmark it and come check it out later. I will pick a winner at random on Sunday December 6th. Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Hey Kool Aid!

Remember the "Hey Kool-Aid!" campaign from the 1970s? (See video at bottom for a flashback). Have you tried dying wool and/or silk with Kool-Aid? I did and it was lots of fun with good results. My first thought after mixing the dye was... people drink this stuff???? I know I did as a child - the redder the better. Warning: the smell of boiling Kool-Aid in the microwave will either take you on a fanciful trip down memory land or make you extremely nauseous - or both.

Anyway, I dyed very red silk scarfs (with cherry flavor) to wrap up wool felt strawberries for a stocking stuffer exchange hosted by Leah. And I dyed a lovely pale yellow (lemonade flavor) play silk for my Winter Seasons Round partner. Don't you think the colors turned out nice?

My Fall Seasons Round partner Marina of A Small Tribe suggested the instructions found at Sara's Toy Box. In addition, The Magic Onions has a post on dying wool with Kool-Aid. It is certainly a cheap way to get an array of colors.

Check back here on December 2nd for a giveaway - something for kids and something for Mama.

















Sunday, November 22, 2009

I Spy

Winter's most beautiful visitor - the cardinal - in the dense fog of the morning. Can you find him in there? Why does the male get to be so vibrantly red and the female that ruddy brown? I know why but still not fair.

Haiku


thick fog at daybreak
dank leaves litter the backdrop
cardinal flaming

Friday, November 20, 2009

How to Feel Old at a Leaf Party

...The younger generation cartwheeling...

...because a photo of me cartwheeling would be wrong (trust me)...



If you want to feel really old, try to do a cartwheel! The "reverse gravity" effect of everything that is sagging being turned upside down and back again will definitely make you feel old. Go on...try it. You'll be amazed how out of shape you are, how little balance you have, and how impossible it is to straighten out your legs and do a cartwheel. In fact, you will feel lucky to make it over and the cheers from your family will make you think you just won the Olympic gold (or maybe it is just the dizziness...)!



All this was brought on by a leaf party and E's first gymnastic class this week. What is a leaf party you ask? Have Dad rake up a nice pile of leaves in the backyard. Sit on the back porch at a nicely set table and split a sweet potato 4 ways. Kids eat strawberry applesauce and parents have a beer. After that, proceed to run, play, jump, throw and bury yourself and your family in those crispy brown leaves. Then there is dancing and cartwheel practice (and more beer drinking by Dad, the film crew, on the back porch). Breathe in that fall air and enjoy the moment (before your back starts hurting from the cartwheels...).

...buried in leaves...

...it's raining leaves...

...pure joy in the leaves...


Ah, Fall - its the most wonderful time of the year (I don't know how Christmas stole that line). What is your favorite thing to do in these Autumn days?

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Inspiring Geography

My cyber-friend Abigail posted this geography inspiring video from YouTube on her blog. You must see this. Impressive, Al Franken. Some adults can't even label all the states on a US map, much less draw a geographically accurate map! My kids were amazed and so was I.

Just got my computer back after a week in the shop so I'll probably be back to my semi-regular blogging now (you've been warned!)





Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Ode to Memorization

Ella's Illustration for The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson

As part of our cobbled together first grade homeschool curriculum, Ella has been memorizing and reciting poetry each week. My mother has always expounded the importance of memorization. In the 1950s and earlier I know it was quite common for children to memorize essays and poetry. I think the popularity began to wane in the 70s; I know I was not required to memorize much - Romeo's soliloquy "To be or not to be" and a Shakespeare sonnet or two (Shall I compare thee to a summers day?).

I am always impressed by people who can recite sonnets or poems or quip with a a funny Shakespeare line or oh so apropos line from somewhere. These words plucked so easily and quickly from their minds. They don't have to search - it just rolls off the tongue. I want that for my children. And Ella loves it! It is a delight to watch how quickly the young mind can memorize a poem or a song. We break some of the longer more complex works into parts to learn.

I did, however, begin to wonder about the benefits of memorization for children (beyond being able to throw in appropriate references and quips at dinner parties in later life!). One essay that I found really interesting is "Got Poetry" by Jim Holt. In essence he states "It’s all about pleasure. And it’s a cheap pleasure." Indeed! The pleasure we gain from the beauty of words, especially those we sew into our hearts and minds, cannot be overlooked. In "In Defense of Memorization", Michael Knox Beran provides more scholarly advocacy for memorization. (I particularly liked that he listed some of the works memorized in the 1927 Course of Study in Literature for Elementary Schools. It gave me some ideas of things we might like to tackle next.) One thing he puts forward that struck me was this:

Classic verse teaches children an enormous amount about order, measure,
proportion, correspondence, balance, symmetry, agreement, temporal relation
(tense), and contingent possibility (mood). Mastering these concepts involves
the most fundamental kind of learning, for these are the basic categories of
thought and the framework in which we organize sensory experience.
I was talking with a friend today and we were discussing the benefits of reading out loud. Poetry certainly has that going for it as well. To be articulate is certainly desirable (in life, in business) in our world.
Here is a partial list (with links) of what she has learned so far this year:
Five Little Pumpkins

We have searched for a good volume of poetry that is kid friendly with good choices for memorization but have not found it. We just look at volumes of poetry we have or borrow from the library and pick poems we like. If you have a good anthology you can recommend please do. If you have a single poem that might be good, please share it. And I'm curious, do any of you that have school age children use poetry memorization?

Monday, November 9, 2009

Meatless Monday :: Inspiration

We are still participating in Meatless Monday. I've lost some inspiration on recipes to post so today I will give you some links.

The Meatless Monday web site has some wonderful links plus it tells you what Meatless Monday is all about. Find this Monday's recipes. I think I am going to try this yummy recipe for Broccoli Brown Rice Bake tonight.

The web site also lists bloggers (including yours truly) that are going meatless. This is a good way to find more meatless recipes. Visions of Sugar Plums posted an easy recipe last week for Pierogies with Caramelized Onions that look tasty.

Feel free to share a link to any meatless recipes on your blog or elsewhere.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Learn Something Friday (a little early) :: Visit from a Praying Mantis

You may remember a while back we had a visit from a lovely little katydid. Well, now a praying mantis has paid us a little visit too. I remember seeing lots of praying mantis's when I was a child but they don't seem as plentiful now. This one would turn his head and stare us down. We were able to get very close and observe all the intricacies of his anatomy. My husband said they will spit at you if you get too close. I looked that up - the can spit a brown substance at you, like many insects. Luckily, he seemed pretty friendly. The girls would probably have loved it!

I wanted to teach the girls what I could about the praying mantis. So we looked up some facts. Here are the highlights:
1. Prominent front legs make the mantis look as if it is praying, hence the name.
2. Average life span = 12 months.
3. Can turn their heads 180 degrees.
4. The spikes on the legs are for capturing prey. (If you double click on the picture above you can see more detail and the spikey legs).
5. Eat moths, crickets, grasshoppers, and flies.

Web links for more info:
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/praying-mantis.html
http://insected.arizona.edu/mantidinfo.htm
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/insects/mantids/Prayingmantidprintout.shtml
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080425-amber-mantis.html


Found anything unusual in your yard or front porch recently??
For more Learn Something Friday posts, see the the "categories" section on the right side bar.

Monday, November 2, 2009

The Wonders of Wool Felt


Making felted wool balls/beads is such a fun craft for kids (and Mama too). It is easy and it involves soapy water so you really can't lose. With all the acorns on the ground right now, it was fun to make these and insert them (with a little super glue) into acorn caps we had gathered this Fall.

We started with wool roving I bought a long time ago from Hobby Lobby. We decided we wanted to make 2 of each color (red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, and green).

We found our largest soup pot and filled it with warm soapy water. We did this on the front covered porch, as it was raining (again). We quickly decided that Ella was the best at getting the ball rolling so to speak. I would take a piece of roving and wind it around itself then she would put it in the water and start rolling it between her palms. Once she got the ball kind of sticking to itself and in a nice form she handed it off to me to roll hard between my palms to really solidify it. Great team work.

Here is what we ended up with. In the spirit of teamwork, we decided to split the spoils. I used half to make felted acorns and Ella kept half for a future, yet to be determined project.

Little sis got bored of trying to make the balls so she just played with a few pieces of the roving in the warm water. She made a loose ball and a little red and green string that she said was a Christmas ornament - works for me.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

...Boo! Creepy and Sweet Photos...

Dead Snake with Fire Ants coming out of its Mouth. Now if that is not creepy I don't know what is. Photo by my husband on a recent hike.

A beautiful spider photo is always good for Halloween. Photo also by my husband.

Snow White and her Poison Apple

Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood ready to rumble!

Happy Halloween Ya'll!