The Art of Spring Cleaning

Well! We certainly wasted no time upon reentry of our 10 day holiday to dive right in and create mayhem in our home. These past few days have been warm and quite Springlike so we threw open the windows and inch by inch tore up the stacks and stuffiness of the back of the house (which inevitably means the rest of the house, too).  It all started with these shelves.......

 

These are my craft supply shelves. Over the past few months I haven't been the best at keeping things organized and when I am afforded the time to create I usually just leave everything laid out on our dining room table. Of course, we have to eat so everything gets quickly shoved into where ever it might fit. Ironically, these shelves still haven't been straightened! LOL

 

This is where we chose to begin. The closet. This 8'x10' room was a closet for 5 people! Me, Lee, Charlotte, Kiki and Seraphina. Utilizing dressers, shelves, and a homemade armoire we somehow (kinda) made it work. There is no door to this room so we  hung a curtain in the doorway to keep visitors eyes from drifting too deeply inside. We very rarely could keep it neat; clothes would easily pile up after being laundered, baskets captured most of the dirty clothes, and a myriad of other non-clothes items would find their way into this space simply because we lack the storage and space in this 1000 sq. ft., one floor, home.  Needless to say, I'm glad we made my craft shelves wait.

 

This was an in between shot. Partially finished but with plenty more yet to do.

 

This is what happened to the bathroom.....yes, that's a ton of stuff just piled into the bathtub!

 

This is Bella's room. The poor Dear had just cleaned her room and we took full advantage of the space while she was at her riding lesson. She just about cried when she saw this picture. I assured her it would be back in order before she went to bed, at it was......more or less!!!

 

This is the laundry space. Just stacks and stacks and stacks. Oy! I dreaded getting in here because a.) I couldn't just close a door and hide it, this space is right in our hallway. There was no way to avoid it and b.) all of the storage that exists was currently being used for other stuff. Where and how the heck was I going to somehow make room!!!

 

 

In the end, it was all well worth the suffering.

 

This is our finished bedroom. Just to give you an idea of why this is a monumental moment, my husband and I had shared a room with the 3 littles. A 10'x10' room that held a queen size bed, bunk beds, a dresser, a shelving unit, a co sleeper, a micro book shelf, and the cozy corner. Cozy in every sense of the word. For the first time in 7 years, Lee and I have our own room, we do share it still with Seraphina but we still feel like grown ups! Big people! It's just so nice.

 

 

This is my side of the room. Heaven!

 

 

This is now the "somewhat organized, at least manageable, I can reach what I need" laundry space. That huge black case to the left is my massage table. I'm finding that even though I'm not in school anymore (you can read more about that here) I'm still finding use for it, however obtrusive, it'll have to stay there for now.

 

 

The bathroom is back in order except for some shelves that need some minor organizing. For now, it's manageable. In case you were wondering, NO, there is nothing hiding behind the shower curtain!!!

 

 

 

This is Charlotte and Kiki's room. Where the long dresser on the right sits is where our bed used to be. Their room is largely acceptable. We still have clothes piles to contend with but they can be assimilated slowly and at a more leisurely pace.

 

 

This is a view to their bunks. Just out of bed but so much more room to jump into from bed. They have a huge bit of space to play in now, thank goodness. Next in here will be a new floor and some minor details like silk curtains and taking those stickers of the bed!! Those stickers used to go on our car window (we were those people!!!) I'll have to figure out another way for them to keep their prized "visit to the bank" stickers.

 

 

Now, I just have to clean off the dining room table and.......

 

 

.....reinvent this corner. This used to be Rosco's window. His bed was right under the window and gave him the perfect spot to watch us from his resting spot. The window will get spruced up, the radio in the corner will be moved, along with the stash of boxes from various trips to the basement that never got returned. My hope is that my craft shelves can fit here, those drawers can stay and be used for homeschool supplies and the like and a few really beautiful plants can sit atop the dresser  and soak up the sunshine from the south. For me, it feels really important to make that space a beautiful one to look at. I miss my boy everyday and to leave his spot empty just reminds us that his little body is gone. Gotta bring some life back into his space, make it a shared space.

 

 

This mess is our home.....and even though it feels so good when it's not quite as messy, it's doesn't feel any less like home even when it's the messiest.

 

Are you spring cleaning? How's it going for you?

 

For Little Hands :: Encouraging Spring

I'm trying to figure out how to work For Little Hands back into my weekly posts, I know consistancy is key and I'm not sure quite yet what the rhythm will look like. My thought this time around is to have it on Fridays as a way to kick of the weekend. I'll add more to it as the idea comes to fruition.

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We love the birds that come and visit our bird feeders; their sweet songs and round little bellies. It's a real joy to sit back and watch them and even when we don't, we know they're there and that brings a smile to our faces.

Here is an older post for you to enjoy(with wee hands in mind) about a simple way to interact with your neighborhood birds while  providing much needed nourishment.....at least where it's really wintry this time of year!

Look at my little Charlotte! She sure has grown! Oh my xoxo

Valentine's Day Window Hearts

 

Candle light, moon light, star light,
The brightest glow is from love light.

~Terri Guillemets

 

We made a simple Valentine decoration today to adorn our front door windows. I am in love with window transparencies; I love the colors that shine through, how they instantaneously beautify a space, the time and patience it takes to create them. These were awfully simple to create. Using white coffee filters, we water colored them and after they dried, I cut them into heart shapes and glued them to our front door windows (using a glue stick). Using homemade window paint (a simple mixture of tempura paint and dish soap. I didn't measure, I just eye balled it and hoped for the best) I traced the hearts on the window and there you have it!

 

Valentine's Day, I have found, can be such a bright and fun day while we are in the midst of February. At this time of dark and cold days, it's nice to have a day that is simply focused on just being kind and sweet and in love. We'll pull out the Valentine hearts we made last year and use them to decorate our nature table as well as create a few new ones to add to the lot.

 

 

As we get over the February hump and get closer to seeing the stirring of Springtime, I can't help but feel hopeful for the newness that we'll begin to witness. The sheep are beginning to show signs that lambing season will soon be here, birds are busy and chirping away, days are becoming longer and longer, and I know soon enough we will begin to see buds popping up from beneath the snow. Valentine's Day, for me, is a day to stir the sleepy busyness within me. It's been dark and cold for many months and while Valentine's Day isn't warmest or sunniest day of the year, it helps me to remember that with love......all things are possible. We can brighten each others day by simply acting out of love, being love, seeing love within each other. I'll be the first to admit, that it's been hard to be in that place this winter. It's been a trying time and I know I haven't offered up my best self on more than one (or two, or three) occasions. The light that will shine through each of the hearts on our front entry way will serve as a reminder to try to recommit myself to this virtue::

“Before you speak ask yourself: Is it kind, is it necessary, it is true, does it improve upon the silence?”   
~ Shirdi Sai Baba

 

*sigh* Love is good. It softens the heart and brightens the day. How might Valentine's Day shake the winter blues out of you?

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Ironically, as I was perusing Pinterest after this post was published, I came across this post with the exact same Valentine activity!! This has happened before and I love it!! It's amazing to me! Nonetheless, I feel it's important to include it here :)

http://innerchildfun.com/2013/01/quick-valentine-window-display.html

Snow Magic

 

Look into the garden

Where the grass was green,

Covered by the snowflakes,

Not a blade is seen.

Look outside the window,

All looks still and white;

Under snowy blankets,

What a pretty sight!

~ J.D. Macey

We're buzzing with excitement in our little hobbit home today! According to our local weather reports we're to expect quite a bit of snow throughout the day and overnight into tomorrow. We haven't had a good bit of snow in quite some time. The last real snow  we can remember (the kind of snow that slows and bring everyday life to a halt, the kind of snow that brings a rumble or two of thunder, the kind of snow that requires constant shoveling to keep walkways clear) was back in 2007. We had back to back snow storms, one of Valentine's Day and one of St. Patrick's Day. We've had a few good storms here since, but truly, nothing like those. We're anticipating good sledding, lots of baking so the oven can help keep our home extra warm, snuggling in to a movie or two, working on some Valentine treats, and really, just hunkering down and being together.

 

 

The littles woke up with so much energy (maybe they're feeling the energy from these two storm that have converged around us). They could barely contain their joy and excitement. After a little stroll around Pinterest I found this really fun idea for homemade snow at The Imagination Tree.

 

Using ingredients that I had on hand, cornstarch and vegetable oil (and glitter), I brought out a plastic storage tub, had Charlotte and Kiki pour the cornstarch into the bin, I poured the oil over the top of the cornstarch, and as they littles mixed and sifted the cornstarch I sprinkled glitter all over their little hands.

This simple sensory activity provided lots of fun (and mess, so be prepared!!) According to the post at The Imagination Tree children exploring with this sensory activity are learning::

Sensory: exploring through sensory investigation, learning new descriptive language
Literacy: story telling, vocabulary development
Science/ Knowledge & Understanding of the World:

combining materials, recipes, geography and habitats
Creativity: imaginative play, forming sculptures
Maths: counting out measurements

They made snowmen, piles of snow, sprinkled snow all over each other and all around them :) We didn't have any moulds of any kind, that might have made the play a bit more exciting but it was still magical and they thought it was a ton of fun to have some snow in the house.

 

Snowflakes falling soft and light,

Snowflakes falling in the night,

Soft and light, pure and white.

When the sun shines out so bright

All the earth is dressed in white.

In the spirit of St. Brigid

Today is St. Brigid's Day. It kinda snuck up on me as we were a bit preoccupied over the week so what I had planned in my mind will have to wait until later this week or next year. In the meantime, here is a recipe for a Celtic Tea Cake that I absolutely love. We will make this today in honor of the patroness of Ireland. It is so moist and tasty and sweet. I always wondered, though, how it was called a Celtic cake when it calls for coconut? Oh, well......it still tastes good!!

Ingredients::
Cake:
1/4 cup boiling water
1 cup very hot milk
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

Oatmeal-Crisp Broiled Topping:

4 tbsps unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk, cream, or half/half
1/2 cup shredded coconut1/4 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

~ Preheat oven to 350. Generously grease a 9-inch round cake pan.

~ In a medium bowl, stir boiling water, hot milk, and oats together and let stand 20 minutes.

~ In another bowl, cream butter with brown sugar until smooth. Mix in eggs and vanilla and blend well. Fold in oat mixture and then flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Blend to make a smooth batter and spoon batter into prepared pan.

~ Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until cake springs back when gently pressed with fingertips. 

~ While cake bakes, in a medium bowl blend together all topping ingredients.

~ After you remove the cake set the oven on broil. Spread topping on cake and place cake under broiler on second shelf for 3 to 5 minutes until topping begins to bubble, watching carefully so it does no burn. Cool well.

 

Looking to tomorrow we've begun making some lanterns to light tomorrow evening in celebration of Candlemas. This is a do ahead project :)

 

Fill some regular balloons with water (not water balloons, too fragile). Freeze them in any manner you can (outside if it's cold enough or in a freezer.) Before they've frozen completely, break open the balloon and pour out the water. There will be a place to set on of those battery operated tea light candles. You could even dye the water different colors and have colored ice lanterns. If your balloons freeze all the way, you will need a paddle attachment drill bit for a power drill and then you could open up a space big enough to fit the tea light candle by drilling into your solid round ice block!

 

This is one of our lights ready to go! They are very pretty, especially at night when their light dances of  the snow. I will post again tomorrow with more pictures and a little look into how we celebrated St. Brigid's Day and Candlemas!

 

Wishing you all a blessed return of the Light xo

Coloring Winter (an older post for today)

Feeling like a wee bit of color is needed in these dreary, wintry days. Here is an older post (tutorial) on bringing in the forthcoming season of St. Valentine. A bit early, I know but who cares!! It's all in good fun :)

Click the link below for the full post and tutorial!!

Valentine Window Transparency

Snow Fairies

The snow fell softly in the night,

All the world was glistening white.

The angels from the stars looked down

On Mother Earth's new shining gown.

The moonbeams danced down silently,

And kissed each sparkling branch and tree.

 

 

It's the January thaw here. All the glorious white and puffy snow we had over the holidays has begun to melt off. It's warm! It's funny how after a spell of 20*F and below 35* and higher feels like a heat wave! The down coat my husband gave me for Christmas hangs from it's hook in our entry way and hasn't moved in more than a week! The littles are amazed that they can go outside with a wool sweater and cap and feel warm!!! "It's winter, right?!" they say! What amazes me is how different winters are from when I was a child. It was cold, that I remember. And there was snow, and lots of it! My Dad has an old 1930's John Deere tractor that he would attach a plow to to move all the snow around.  One of my favorite memories, and the first inkling I knew we had a good snow over night, was being woken to the sound of the tractor in the wee pre-dawn hours as my Dad plowed us out! *sigh* Snow has become more of a novelty and less of a nuisance, I think. We've gotten so little over the past few years that when it finally comes, it's worthy of celebration. It feels like somehow things are as they should be, ya know?

 

That aside, the littles and I were wondering how we might invite some more snow to visit us. I told them a story of how when folks wish for rain they do a special rain dance. They looked at me with bright eyes and wondered if maybe doing a snow dance would work.

 

As they were dancing on the sofa :) I got out the usual suspects and fashioned together a quick Snow Fairy. Using just a wooden bead, half of a pipe cleaner, and a scrap of wool felt this is what I came up with. 

 

 

 

I added some wool roving between the folds of her dress and gave her some long white, braided hair. In her hands, I stitched a long piece of thread and attached little puffs of white wool to create the illusion that she was sprinkling snow. I attached her to the grapevine wreath that hangs above our nature table. I wish I could get better pictures of her dancing above it all, but.....I just couldn't seem to find the right angle. You can see in the first picture that I also added some wool felt stars. I wanted it to feel as though she were flying through the night sky dusting everything below in puffs of glistening, white snow. The girls came out and were super surprised to see this new addition to our little table. They were singing and dancing and making little Seraphina giggle (which was why I was afforded this extra bit of time! Her laughter makes the littles so happy that they will do anything to keep her laughing and smiley!!)

 

 

So, I guess we'll see if our efforts worked. A snow dance invitation and our little snow fairy......fingers crossed :)

Glimmer, lantern, glimmer

Glimmer, lantern, glimmer

Little stars a-shimmer.

Over meadow, moor and dale,

Flitter, flutter, elfin veil

Pee-wit, pee-wit, tikka-tikka-tik,

Rucoo, Rucoo

 

Glimmer, lantern, glimmer

Little stars a-shimmer.

Over rock and stock and stone;

Wandering, skipping, little gnomes.

 

The weather has turned quite quickly to wintry. Martinmas is upon us and I can only think of how much we need the warm, heavenly glow of candle light. There has been so much upheaval over the last few weeks. Hurricane Sandy hit hard areas around us, those we love have suffered great loss and millions we don't know have suffered as much, if not more. We have been faced with the reality of looking long and hard at how we live our life......what we depend on for survival, what we can do without. We live in a world of constant contact and movement and I know there have been many who have been living quite frontier-like, although it hasn't been dreamy at all.

 

The story of St. Martin is one that encompasses all that is compassionate and unconditional. Martin gave to another human being when no one else would. He sacrificed some of his comfort so that another fellow human could experience warmth and generosity. Martin acted out of grace.......and I feel like at this time when we are usually more focused on turning inward we are also being called by our neighbors to look outward.

 

It is bittersweet to sit in our warm home with all of our luxuries safely around us, wood stove crackling, lights on when needed, and hot water at our beck and call. How I wish we could somehow alleviate those who haven't had a hot shower in days, if not weeks. How I wish to offer a hot meal to a fellow human who has been stranded in their multi-story apartment building with nothing but what they were able to grab in advance of the storm. How I wish that so many were not looking at so much devastation and loss.

 

Our family is one of action! We aren't idle in moments like this so with all those "how I wish" statements above we've managed to use that energy and put it toward looking outward. We are in the planning stages of a massive event. One that could potentially bring hundreds of people together with just one common goal, thanksgiving. We are looking to bring those who have lost so much together with their neighbors and give thanks for what is left and what can be restored. We will feed their body and souls with the unconditional grace and love and good old fashioned home cooking! Martinmas comes at a time where there is so much to give and we can certainly be inspired by the Light that shone so brightly within him.

 

The littles and I made more lanterns today! I know, I've been a bit lantern crazy!! They're just so beautiful to have around and their warm glow will melt away and coldness in the air. We made very simple lanterns using the traditional method of pasting tissue paper on a glass jar. I'll end this post with a few snapshots of our experience and just one question.......

 

How will you be inspired by St. Martin this year?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To look within

Autumn is a wonderful time of year. I know I expressed my joy and contentment with this phase of the seasonal cycle in my last post......I just can't help myself. September marks a time of many new beginnings........first school days, Rosh Hashanah, Michaelmas, the changing of the seasons from Summer to Autumn and the Full Harvest Moon. This time feels much like a "look within" time. A time to seek out the light within the summers waning and shine it inwards. A time to seek out our "dragons" and tame them anew. A time to replenish all that was given outward and now replenish inward.

Michalemas is upon us, the Festival of Courage, and as I mentioned above this is a wonderful time to seek out our inner dragons; to be courageous in our endeavor to seek out our best selves; to be persistent in our abilities to be loving and inspiring parents and teachers; to realize that the best gift we can give each other and ourselves is to be true to our deepest dreams, to be steadfast in making them a reality, and to be brave enough to share them with the world. The dragons in our lives give us the obstacles we need in order to keep learning and to keep moving upward and onward. If we ignore these dragons they just keep getting stronger.......if we can tame them and acknowledge that they live within us we can learn from them and be peaceful in our ability to grow fully within ourselves.

"Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

 

To help us begin our Micaelmas preparations Charlotte and I made our first ever dragon for our seasonal table. I am not an experienced sewer and having a three month old at home.......well, time seemed to elude us! Thankfully DH was home and he offered a much needed arm and respite to allow for us to complete our project. It did take us ALL DAY but I think if we were able to just sit uninterrupted it wouldn't have taken so long. But there again......

 

I found, quite by accident, this lovely link to a post over at Rhythm of the Home. It is written and contributed by Angela Mobley from The artist, the mom. It is beautiful and pretty clear in its instruction. If you're an avid sewer it should be no problem. If you aren't, like me, you'll find yourself muddling through, but it will prove fruitful in the end!!!

 

 

Here we traced our pattern on our lovely ruddy felt.

 

 

All of our dragon pieces:: feet, gussets, ears, spikes, body, wings

 

 

Charlotte's first turn at the sewing. It proved to be a bit difficult as the felt was rather thick

but she persevered and accomplished quite a bit.

 

 

Our nearly finished dragon about to receive her stuffing:: raw, plant dyed wool

 

 

Our beautiful and already quite beloved Dragon.

She is gentle and kind and loves to fly through our home.

 

 

We now have many dragon-tamers in our home.

 

 

How does your family celebrate Michaelmas? Do you have any practices that you could share in how you acknowledge the dragon within you? How do you tame your inner dragon?

 

 

Wishing you all a lovely season of  looking inward to find the light within you xoxo

Summer Comes

The Little darling Spring has run away.

The sunshine grew too hot for her to stay.

She kissed her sister, Summer, and she said,

"When I'm gone, you must be Queen instead."

Now reigns the Lady Summer, round whose feet

A thousand fairies flock with blossoms sweet.

Summertime

"Now everyday the Summer sun

Climbs higher in the sky;

The farmer's fields are stacked with hay

In June and July.

Long holidays are here again,

Blue sea and sandy beaches.

The time of sun-ripe fruit has come,

Of pears and golden peaches."

~ From the Waldorf Book of Poetry