The Perils of Pinterest

Do you have a Pinterest account? Is your house work suffering because of it? Mine's not, if not this it would be something else keeping me from housework. I'm not a huge fan. I've wasted spent a fair amount of time on that site. It's the best of the internet on one site! So. many. good. ideas! After my boards started to fill up, I decided that I needed to put this to use or it was really just a waste of time. Perfectly timed with my resolve to make more, buy less processed, and focus on the food portion of our lives more. Without further ado, the perils of Pinterest: 

 : : Bagels : : 

I've made them a bunch of times, I've lost track of how many. They are very good, and not too hard to make. 

 : : French Vanilla Creamer : :

This is the end of my second batch. Its decent, not exactly like my favorite Organic Valley French Vanilla. But in the spirit of buying less pre-made, processed food, it will do. 

: : Graham Crackers : : 

Third batch. I think I eat just as many of them as the littles do. I tweak them a bit each time and they just get better and better. 

: : Granola : :

So I've made granola before, just not this recipe. Since I was having good luck with recipes found, I wanted to try this one. The littles love granola with yogurt (on the list of things to try making). Piper says this isn't as good as store bought. Hoping she'll come around. 

: : Mayonnaise : : 

MAYO! Tackling this felt way out of my league. Surprisingly easy, with a bit of help from Calder. And a tip from my brother. Only thing that could make it better is if the eggs were from our own chickens. In time. These eggs came from Ninepatch - which is the best we could ask for. The flavor is richer than store bought, yum. 

: :  Wrapped Cord : :

When I saw this it was done on ear buds. I'm not 'hip' enough to use ear buds. In fact, my iPod is nearly the original version. I wrapped up the conversion kit for the car's cord. While doing so Zac asked me if I had nothing better to do. Of course I did. However, it made it so much prettier.

Oh yea, and then there's this...

: : Haircut : :

My sister says I look 23, my brother says I look like me from high school without the pouf. (For the record, that was middle school - I promise I was much cooler in high school!) Ah, it's just hair, easily changed if it doesn't work out. 

We also have had a few new dinners, this, this and this. Piper declared the chili 'nasty' before even tasting it. Calder follows the leader. So it goes.There is so much more I want to try. 

Things Missed

As we go through our days, I happen upon the littles in the midst of play, together play. I'm comforted that they get along - for the most part. Moments like these I wish I would be carrying my camera on me all day. But I don't. I make a habit of keeping it with in close reach, on the kitchen counter or atop the fridge. Even then it's a bit too far. By the time I retrieve my camera and return to them, they're on to something else, or have detected me and I've interrupted them. The moment is gone, saved only in my mind to be recounted later.

Sometimes, just sometimes, I do catch them on 'film'. Proof that I can show them years from now, when they're teens potentially sick of each other (that will never happen right), that they were friends once upon a time and will be again. Often I feel that there is so much pressure on their friend/sibling relationship because there is only two of them. There won't be another sibling to run to when they're mad at each other- like I had times seven. This is it for them. I hope with my whole being that they each turn out to be people that the other can love, accept, support, defend and be friends with.

At It Four Years Now

Over the weekend our eldest turned four. Hard to believe we've been working hard at, and always learning on the journey of parenting for four years already. Piper certainly is her own person. So very different from her younger counterpart. Independent, but oh so very needy. Funny. Smart. Kind. Not so patient. And now a big girl.

The days leading up to the day of her birth she talked over and over about how she was going to be a big girl when she was four and all the big girls thing that accompany that title. No whining - which lasted half of the day. Drinking coffee with breakfast. On and on. Thinking she was going to wake up four and much larger in size, she was happy to announce she had indeed not 'busted out of my clothes last night'. Just minutes after waking said that she would be five soon. I begged her to slow down just a bit. Wise beyond her years she explained how it was just life to grow up. Marmar (my mom) hadn't wanted me to grow up but I did. Despite wanting her to stay little, Piper was going to be growing up. In turn, I'm growing with her; learning, changing, adapting to meet her (and Calder's) needs. Besides that I still have Calder, according to Piper. Yes, why yes I do.

Along with four other big girls we celebrated Piper. Dressed in fancy dresses - of course.

Piper's Room: Finished

Piper spent an unexpected by us, planned by her, week at the farm after our visit for harvest dinner. In her absence I made a plan to clean her room, wash everything, vacuum really well, do a bit of organizing. In the process of that I got the urge to just finish up her room - at long last, as a surprise.

At three and a half, I find it important to have a space her own, in which she's made some of the choices. Choices about the things she cares about; wall color, fabric for her bed, having a blanket on the end of her bed to make it 'fancy', maybe an accessory here or there. 

Before the room was actually our's (her's), Piper had request a striped room. Mostly the result of paint chip love. Too many beautiful colors to settle on just one. Eventually, with a bit of persuasion she agreed on one color. Picking two shades of pink for one wall of stripes.

Piper has this amazing antique bed that was in the farm that her Gigi grew up in. When I was little that was where we, as a family, went on vacation. It wasn't a functioning farm any longer, rather a get-away for the family. As a graduation present Gigi gave the bed to me. A tall painted white ages ago iron bed with flowers on the head and foot boards and worn brass knobs. It was one of the best presents I've ever received. Living in a half story house for six years meant that use of the bed was temporarily handed over to one of my sisters at my parents farm. My dream, after having Piper, was to hand over the use of that bed to her. A bed for a princess.  Our purchase of this home made that reality. And she loves it.

To make the bed a major focal point of her room we choose the wall behind her bed for the stripes.

 I painted her old bedside table a dark teal for a fresh look. Which wouldn't be complete with out her stack of currently reading chapter books. One, On the Banks of Plum Creek, Piper and I are reading together a bed and rest time. What a special treat for us both. Piper is a book lover if I've ever met one. It's absolutely charming to hear her reading these books to herself.

Upon her request I found more art for her walls. A free printable from Feed Your Soul: the Free Art Project in an old frame I found in the basement.

A couple of weeks back she broke her piggy bank when she set her heart on buying herself an ice cream. She took the saying, 'break the bank' seriously. I grabbed a blue Mason jar from the kitchen and embroidered a bit of linen from a discarded pair of Zac's pants turning it into a new bank for her change.

A girl after my own heart! Granny chic. We found this doily at the thrift store for $.50 and thought we'd use it as a dresser scarf. Perhaps covering a bit of the wear on the top.

The sewer in me loves fabric. The scraps of fabric (or vintage tea towel in the large hoop) in thrifted embroidery hoops have been remade for each room Piper's had. The charm of embroidery has been a favorite of mine for some time now. I'm fairly new to it. But I was inspired by a few images I found while helping gather ideas for a girlfriend's daughter's room led me to making this little piece of embroidery for Piper. A simple dandelion blowing and her name. I did it at the same time as I did her piggy bank.

 A shelf left with the house holds a few pictures/prints, vintage blocks we're gathering to spell out her name, and a small vase filled with a collection of discarded guinea feathers (one Americauna feather too) she and I found at the farm this fall.

A project Piper and I worked on a couple of weekends ago was this cradle Zac's mom had given Piper for her 'kids'. It was in need a of a paint job. In some spare moments alone while Calder napped, she and I painted it with left over paint from our atelier. The whole time we worked Piper told me how OoOo and Chloe love teal and how they had wanted their bed to be painted. It's not a perfect paint job, but there is beauty in that imperfection. The next morning up before the boys, we made those girls a blanket to match their mama's with left over scraps from Piper's duvet and an old sheet.

So it's finished...for now. Decorating is always an evolution, as Piper has already reminded me of, saying she wants to add more pretty stuff to her room. Indeed, always more pretty stuff.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A single photo - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. via

Fall Dinners

When it's cold and dark outside by dinner time, our normal mealtime candles feel so much more cozy and magical. Hope all of you are finding ways to make these shortening days with their dark evenings special.