A Pleasant Saturday

Watching sweet kids who prefer to organize their crayons over coloring Linus.


Making hot cocoa.


Coming home to Beth's beignets.

Limes and an Old Building

Oil paints for the limes and pen and ink for the building. Any suggestions? And, I can't tell for sure (I've looked at it for too long), but is the building a bit crooked?

They've Got Me...

Containers.

Containers of almost any sort. But especially if they're glass. Or wood. Or small.

I've been collecting containers since I was really little. I used to save the small boxes that paper clips came in, or scavenge through the spice cupboard for empty jars.

My buttons? They live in Yellow Curry's old house. The basket on my dresser? It had a past life holding a bath set. I hadn't realized how often I bring containers to my room until yesterday, when I nabbed a flimsy wooden fruit crate that was about to go out to the trash. Of course it will make a great knitting basket.

Or not.

Once I counted eleven other containers (bowls, baskets, vases, pencil holders, re-purposed altoids containers, etc.) in my half of the bedroom (Chrissy and I share), I decided that adding the splinter-ridden crate was too much.

They say that admitting you have a problem is the first step towards overcoming it. And I resisted the last container, so I guess I'm well on my way!

Gideon

His nap was disturbed by the paparazzi.

Snow Day

Today was a snow day! Due to very icy roads , the cottage school at which Chrissy and I take science classes was canceled for the day. This was nice, since I have a cold and didn't feel like going to school. So instead of taking anatomy and teaching art, I spent most of the morning on my bed, reading and looking online at vintage patterns. Oh dear. I guess I'll have to be extra productive tomorrow.

This afternoon I worked a bit on the scrap quilt - I'm basting the front, batting, and backing together, then I'll quilt it. I decided to stay with cream for the border and back, and like Joanna commented, it is a summer quilt, but I'll use it all year long because it makes me happy!

And look at this, there are TWO people commenting on the blog! Wow! Thanks Joanna and Rachel!

Happy Thoughts

While the elegant grays, browns and whites of January are beautiful, I'm really beginning to miss the sun... so I'll think of warm, bright, cheerful things!

• A pot of vegetable broth bubbling on the stove and steaming up the kitchen windows
• A vintage, honeycomb-patterned milk glass planter that I found for 50 cents at the thrift store the other day. Hello, new pencil holder!
• This quote from The Valley of Vision, a collection of puritan prayers:
  

"...In all good things there is
somewhat that pleases me,
somewhat that please Thee...."

• The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior, and the fact that David enjoys it as much as (if not more than) I do!
• Christ is alive and intercedes before the Father on our behalf! Though we deserve death, through him we have life!

Divinity from a Vintage Recipe

When my family lived in North Dakota, our town had a HUGE craft fair every year. One thing I always looked forward to getting (and eating) was divinity - it was so creamy and sweet. We haven't been to that event in years, but here's the recipe I use now to make divinity, slightly adapted from a 1950's Better Homes and Garden's cookbook.

In a 2 qt. sauce pan, mix together:

2 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 water
1/4 ts. salt

Stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved (so that it's clear). Now, leave it alone and let it start to boil - once it starts boiling, beat two egg white to stiff peaks. Continue to let the sugar syrup boil until it reaches the hard ball stage (260 degrees F), then slowly pour it over the egg whites in a thin stream, while beating the eggs on high speed.

Once the syrup and eggs are combined, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla (but really, more or less is just fine). Then, continue to beat the divinity on high speed until it is almost to stiff peaks (If you over beat it, that's all right - it just won't be as pretty).

Quickly put spoonfuls of the mixture onto a wax paper-lined baking sheet, pushing it off of one spoon with another. In it gets too stiff, the recipe says to stir in a bit of hot water, but I always forget this and end up with several ugly candies. Let them sit until firm, or overnight in you want them really creamy (and can wait that long!).

Voila! Vintage candy!

P.S. If you happen to be bringing the candy to an anatomy class party as an after-dissection-snack, feel free to put a lifesaver candy on top of each divinity and fill the center of the ring with chocolate for a cow's eyeball!

In the Shop

I just put some new things up in my Etsy shop, including the tote which belongs to these charming yoyos. Remember, for the next ten days, all profit from sales is going to Haiti!

Help for Haiti!

Since the earthquake in Haiti last week, many, many children have become orphans. It's really hard to know where to help - there are so many needs right now. The mom of a friend of ours runs For His Glory Adoption Outreach, an orphanage in Haiti. They have over 100 orphans who are, Lord willing, coming to the U.S. in a few days. However, once these children leave, many newly orphaned children will fill their places at the orphanage. Currently, they are out of diapers and low on food, and the workers are worried about security. Please pray for the safety and salvation of these children, their birth families, and the caregivers at the orphanage.

For the next ten days, all profits from my Etsy shop will be going to going to FHG, so until January 31, any purchases you make will be helping this ministry. Or, better yet, you can go to their website and donate directly!

Hay Bale Jumping

At Grandpa and Grandma's.







Have you tried it?

A Goal

Running is my favorite way to exercise, especially cross country (or, better yet - trail running!). All of us kids ran on a home-school team, David and I for three seasons, but we stopped after 2007. I've continued to run sporadically at home with my dog, Dixie, but never got any farther than a mile and a half.

Now, I have a goal. And a plan to reach it! A few days ago, I found this, thanks to Beth. Nothing too hard, with a goal of 5K (or three miles) in nine weeks.

I think I can do this. :)

A Trip to Viginia

After Christmas, we visited our grandparents in the Virginia. One of the nights, we went to a botanical garden which had a Christmas lights display. It was so pretty!

A beautiful Christmas tree in the conservatory. The conservatory was my favorite part of the whole garden (it was also the warmest).



One of the cute squirrels in the the children's wing of the conservatory.




There was a Christmas tree in the garden's library that was decorated entirely with ornaments made from materials which grew in the garden. There were dried roses and puffy seed heads - that tree was Mama's favorite.

It was a cold night, but absolutely gorgeous!

Photos provided by Chrissy. :)

A Scrap Quilt

This is my first scrap quilt, and I've been working on it for the past week or so. I really like how the colors look together, and can't wait to finish it! I love scrap quilts!

• The pieces are all squares, so no tricky diamonds or triangles to cut
• Most of the scraps have memories attached to them (Grandma's shirts, one of Mama's dresses from when she was in grade school, etc.)
• Even though they don't "match," they do!

Though I didn't plan it, most of the fabrics have flowers. Now to decide on a border color... I am thinking cream, but open to suggestions!

Apple Pie

The other day, everyone wanted apple pie. We didn't have much white flour on hand, so we ground some wheat flour and found a recipe for a whole wheat pie crust. Bad idea. I ended up putting it together more like a graham-cracker crust than a regular crust (you can see how crumbly it was) , which was awkward. Thankfully it didn't affect the taste!

The First Post