Quilt Scraps Mom

I’ve never been a big fan of yard sales.  Having them, that is.  I’m way too big a fan of frequenting them, which is ultimately why the need to have one developed in the first place.  The prospect of a sunny Saturday… two daughters eager for cash… the annual neighborhood extravaganza… seems like a recipe for success, right?

Wrong!  For a variety of reasons, we only began preparing for our event at about 10:00 pm on Friday night.  First big mistake.  Box after box tumbled down from the attic.  We discovered that my bargain hunting of recent weeks was for naught… a complete wardrobe for preschool girls still existed, stashed in the deep recesses of the attic.  We began diligently sorting box after box after largely mislabeled box of clothing ranging from newborn through size six and some even larger.  Three large bags were filled with stained, torn clothing that I can’t begin to understand why we stored to begin with.  We discovered elastic-waisted pants do not fare well in attic heat. 

Ultimately (somewhere around 1:00 am) we were left with 14 rubbermaid totes of neatly sorted, clean clothing ready for sale at a bargain price of just .25 a piece.  We added some toys, a couple of used bikes, and some baby equipment to the mix, and at just past 6:30 am, began loading everything onto the front lawn.  The girls set up their table, complete with homemade brownies and cookies, and cold sodas for hungry, thirsty shoppers.  We were all set!  

Five hours later, we had brought in a whopping $16 — $5 for my son’s old bike, and the majority of the rest from brownie & soda sales.  13 3/4 Rubbermaid totes of clothing remained.  I’m trying to look on the bright side — that’ll be quite a tax deduction when I finally make it to the Crisis Pregnancy Center & Goodwill, and at least it’s not in my attic anymore, right?  But I missed my son’s baseball game, one side of my nose is sunburned, and I don’t REALLY think this was the best use of a Saturday morning when I could have just donated the stuff to begin with.  Lesson learned.

Note to self:  Baby Steps!

I should have known better.  I’m really not sure what happened to my brain between Wednesday night, when I came to the sad realization that we could no longer survive solely on the remaining contents of the fridge and pantry, and Thursday afternoon, when I found myself surrounded by recipes and grocery lists and the intent to prepare and freeze dozens of healthy, nutritious meals… but there I was.

Okay, so it wasn’t dozens.  It only SEEMED like dozens at midnight when faced with mountains of ingredients galore and WAY too many pots and pans.   It began with a run to the local warehouse store, where I accumulated 24 chicken breasts, 12 chicken thighs, 6 lbs of ground beef, a few lbs of round steak, and 6 salmon filets.  Oh, and lets not forget 208 gallon-size freezer bags (at less than I would normally pay for 120), 128 quart-size freezer bags, a jug of laundry soap that will supposedly last for 128 loads, 90 dishwasher tabs, and assorted other items.  Now I remember why I don’t go to there very often!!  But I do know my regular Walmart prices pretty well, and I did save a lot of money… and I guess with four kids, and an extra adult for the next few weeks, I need to face the reality that we ARE a large enough family to benefit from bulk shopping.

So we stashed all that here, there and everywhere and after dinner, I headed off to Walmart for the rest of the groceries.  By 10:00 pm, everything was away, I had given up hope of watching ER, and we began.  We quickly realized that my shopping skills are a bit less than perfect — even with a list, I missed a few key ingredients for some of the recipes.  So dh jumped in the car — gotta love having a decent grocery store a mile away — and went to grab the last few items.  He forgot the main thing I sent him for, but I guess I can’t say too much on that one, can I?

With the help of dh & dd11, we chopped, we food-processed, we measured, and we bagged until after midnight… and in the end, my freezer was filled with a dozen ready-to-cook meals (about half for the crock pot).  Add in a leftover night or two, weekly spaghetti night, and dh’s desire to pull out the grill on weekends, and we should be good for 3-4 weeks!  I know someday I will undoubtedly be glad I embarked on this adventure, but right now I am SO incredibly tired (my preschooler had to wake me up or she wouldn’t have made to preschool).  I guess that’s why the instructions said to take it SLOWLY!

Bon appetit!

We’ve been bitten by the lapbooking bug this year!  My 7 year old especially enjoys this new addition to our homeschooling activities.  My favorite source for lapbooks, by far, is Hands of a Child.  Here are some pictures of the Vertebrates lapbook he just finished to display at our co-0p’s science fair:

He’s really blown me away with how much he’s learned about animals this year…. we’re planning to tackle the Invertebrates lapbook too, but ran out of time to get it done for the science fair.  I think he’d lap-book just about everything if my hands could stand the cutting!

and today’s the day to get FREE water ice at Rita’s.  Now personally, I’ve become quite addicted to the Misto, which is a shake-like mix of water ice & custard, but unfortunately, that doesn’t count for the freebie.  But I guess I’ll survive.  Check out their website to find the Rita’s nearest you !  If only I wasn’t going to need my winter gloves and snow coat while I was eating it…

     It’s only an hour.  It’s not like traveling around the world.  It’s not even like we have to leave home.  So why on earth is it almost a week since we set the clocks ahead and I’m still dragging around like a world traveler with a serious case of jet lag???

        Don’t get me wrong… I love the fact that I look out my window while cooking dinner and still see the remnants of a sunny day winding to a close.   Soon it’ll be time for lazy evenings at the ball fields, relaxing with my preschooler on our “special lego blanket” while the older kids practice softball and baseball (okay, maybe a lap or two around the walking trail for me isn’t such a bad idea…).  And who could argue with the warming weather and flower buds peeking from beneath the mulch?     

     But somehow that one little hour seems to wreak havoc on our daily schedules.  Sleep doesn’t come easy in the evenings for my night owls, yet my early risers have yet to waver in their determination to begin the day at first light (or even before!).  And I’m left caught in the middle, trying to catch a few moments’ rest in between and still juggle all that needs to be done!

           Sometimes I wish we could at least really “gain” that hour… but would I fritter it away on things that don’t really matter?  Fit in one more thing on my ever-growing list of things to do?  Snatch an extra moment or two of shut-eye?  Or would I invest it in something that counts… an extra bit of cuddling with my preschooler?  Reading “just one more chapter” to my seven-year old?   Getting out one of those board games that always seem to take “too long” and enjoying time with my older girls?  And spending more than just a token stolen moment with the God I claim to love and serve?

      We have twenty-four hours each day… twenty-four precious hours to spend pursuing the purpose for which God placed us on this earth.  Twenty-four hours to love the people He’s put into our lives and to build memories that will last forever.  Yes, time really does change everything! 

     It’s March 4th.  Not exactly spring, but after the second consecutive day of temperatures in the sixties, enough was enough… the snowmen had to go!   Now before you wonder how on earth we managed to keep snowmen from melting in such weather to begin with, I’m not talking about that kind of snowmen.  I’m talking about stuffed snowmen, ceramic snowmen, snowmen on pillows, pictures of snowmen… get my, well, drift?  Yes, I collect snowmen.  All sizes, shapes, and in some rare instances, colors.  And while I relegated anything Christmas to the basement in mid-January, the snowmen just weren’t ready to say good-bye!

     I’ve been thinking for a while that it was time.   But like many things, snowmen removal just didn’t quite make the top of the priority list.  But today it was warm, and too rainy to go outside, and my two little ones were bored… so what was Mom to do?  Send them on a snowman hunt, of course!  From every corner of the house, snowmen converged upon my kitchen counter.  Big ones, little ones… the pile just grew and grew.   And grew.  I swear there weren’t this many last winter!

     So now the snowmen are safely tucked in their tidy blue storage boxes, awaiting next December 1st when they will join the Christmas entourage on display.  The house looks quite barren.  But tomorrow I’ll venture into the black abyss (the basement storage zone) and search for their spring counterparts… bunnies, anyone?

     His mercies are new every morning.  I’ve been clinging to that passage over the last few days, as it has seemed as though the echo of amen would barely fade when I would finding myself needing to get back down on my knees and plead for God’s forgiveness and grace yet again.

     I’m not sure where I got the idea that surrendering my life to God was a once-and-done deal, but I’m quickly finding that it’s more like minute by minute, learning to give over each thought and desire that rises up within me.  Let’s just say it seems my flesh doesn’t plan to go down without a fight!

Over the past few days, I’ve felt the quilting bug bite again. Something about a few too many snowy/rainy days has that effect on me! But I couldn’t find the set of squares that I need to piece to get my next quilt going. I’d put them in one of those “safe” places just before Christmas 2006. Obviously kept them safe from becoming part of a quilt, anyway!

So, I escalated from randomly “keeping an eye out” for them to an all-out search. And it wasn’t pretty. Time for a Fly Lady Super Fling, anyone? With a few prayers from friends, I found that pesky box of squares. But that’s not all; I also found…

• My three-year old’s Snow White costume from Halloween 2007 (unworn). Now that was a quite a night, more than 15 kids piled up on my front lawn waiting for me to convince a sobbing preschooler that she really wanted to be Dora the Explorer, not Snow White as she’d been planning for weeks on end.
• A box of baby boy clothes borrowed when my son (age seven) was born — all packed up and ready to be returned to the now-unknown person from whom they were borrowed.
• A “Grow Your Own Butterfly” kit from 2005 — thankfully, caterpillars not included.
• Two complete sets of McDonald’s Teeny Beanie Babies. Remember those? I have all three years’ worth. Guess I waited a little too long to list those on eBay, didn’t I?

And there was more, but I’ll spare you all the details.

Now if I could just find my car keys…

     I remember as a child how exciting it would be when the possilibity of a snow day loomed ahead.  I’d get up even earlier than normal and listen eagerly to see if the name of my school would be on the list of those closed for the day, the excitement growing as the announcer would get closer and closer on his alphabtized list.

     Then came adulthood, when I quickly realized that with few exceptions, there were no snow days… only days when I’d still have to get up earlier than normal, but to shovel the walkway, clear snow from my windshield, and cautiously make my way to work, hoping only to arrive without joining any of the fender-bendered cars littering the sides of the road.

     And now, life as a homeschool mom.  No radio announcer will list “Windy Hill Academy” as being closed for the day.  Just sleepy students in pajamas wondering if bringing Mom coffee in bed will be enough to cause her to abandon schoolwork for just a while.  Cuddles on the couch with a good book.  Sledding down the back hill and enjoying hot cocoa afterwards.  Seems a lot like those old snow days, doesn’t it?  Except I’m blessed with the opporunity to enjoy such days whenever I want… no waiting for some school district official to give his or her okay.  So yes, I still love snow days.  And sunny, spring days exploring the budding plants in our garden.  And crisp fall days of playing in leaves and hiking in the woods.   And the blessings of learning along the way.