Small Things

All of a sudden there seem to be quite a few works in progress around here, and hopefully I will be able to share some finished projects soon!

I am on the verge of a sinus infection, the hallmark of winter pregnancy for me. Thank goodness for the Neti pot! This is my first season using one, and I am thinking (hoping!) that I might win the battle. I am so thankful to those of you who suggested I buy one!

I was checking out at the grocery store the other day when the older gentleman who was checking and bagging my groceries said to me, “Just a warning, but you really should wash your grocery bags sometimes. They get dirty from your groceries, and this one in particular (old stained white canvas that doesn’t ever look clean) is really dirty.”

Maybe I should have said “thank you, I’ll go home and do that straight away!”

But, sometimes I am not in the mood for unsolicited advice.

While thinking to myself that I was really glad that he couldn’t see the interior of my van, I told him that I have five children and do so much laundry that my grocery bags aren’t high on the priority list (and we don’t buy much meat at all, so it’s mainly dry goods and bagged produce going in the bags to begin with.) I don’t think that was rude of me, and I did say it with a (forced) smile. The whole thing was sort of embarrassing and maybe a bit shocking. I am not accustomed to having strangers give me cleanliness advice. I guess I will file this situation in the “awkward encounters with strangers” category along with that drunk lady from my May flight with Beatrix.

And I guess rather than going back to the store with even dirtier bags and choosing his line again, I will swallow my pride and wash my grocery bags, as you are supposed to do that periodically (swallow your pride and wash your grocery bags!)

Jonny is going to be taking the boys snowboarding once a week for the rest of the winter as part of a homeschool snowboard deal at a (sort of) nearby mountain. I need to plan some projects to keep the girls happy on those days, as they are going to be long ones! Hmmm, what to do with two and four year old girls? This may become a series if I can manage to come up with a bunch of good ideas!

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We made beeswax ornaments last week when we were making beeswax nativities (I ended up making two more nativities for gifts.) These are easy to make, and maybe next year I will be prepared with some larger molds. This year I just bought what I found at Hobby Lobby; smaller sized candy molds. I bought both plastic and silicone. The plastic is much cheaper, but the silicone is much nicer and easier to work with.

Seth made a store in our shed and has been hammering bottle caps flat to use as currency. He seems to do the hammering when I am trying to put Beatrix down for a nap. Anyway, he sold this, as he described it, sort of scraggly, partly brown and dead cedar tree to Keats for three bottle caps. Keats proudly brought it inside and started making decorations. Of course he needed beeswax ornaments!

We ended up giving these as Christmas gifts along with the candy we made last week. I am so proud of myself for getting everything packaged and mailed in time. The writing out of addresses, and the packaging and getting things in the mail is the hard part!

In case you are wondering how we made the ornaments, here is what we did: I didn’t google instructions, just sort of winged it. I had hemp twine on hand so we tied knots in short pieces to make loops and then placed the knotted ends inside the molds.

Then we poured the beeswax we had melted (in a small glass measuring cup *that I don’t plan to even try to clean* inside a pot of simmering water) into the molds. You have to be careful with the knot placement, making sure that it gets covered, but not pushed too close to the front of the ornament or else you see it in the front of the completed ornament. That was easier said than done with these smaller molds. I let these set for a couple of minutes on the counter an then moved them to the fridge to harden. It only takes about ten minutes for them to be ready to be removed from the molds. Those in the silicone molds are much easier to remove.

So for the rest of the week here’s what’s going on:

Tomorrow I will host a Yarn Along in case anyone wants to share one last time before Christmas.

On Thursday we are having our first Christmas for the Animals. There will be treats for the birds, cats, chickens, deer, and of course for Trudy. We are very excited about that!

If I don’t make it back here after the Yarn Along until next week, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. And to those of you celebrating the winter solstice today, happy solstice!

Oh, and we did get up in the middle of the night to watch the lunar eclipse. Thankfully Seth set his own alarm because Jonny slept through his watch alarm. Seth woke us up about twenty minutes before the full eclipse, wide awake and excited. We were thankful that we were able to watch it through our big living room windows and didn’t have to brave the cold. Of course things got interesting when I asked Jonny to go back upstairs and wake Larkspur, as I knew she would be upset if we didn’t. She came down and watched for a couple of minutes and then announced that she had play dough in her hair. I wondered how that was possible, since she didn’t when she went to bed and we only play with play dough at the table. I guess some magically made its way into her bed and she did indeed have a huge wad of it in her hair. As I worked it out of her hair (in the dark) Beatrix woke up and started screaming and running for the top of the stairs, so Jonny ran to rescue her before she sleepily came tumbling down. We are experimenting with having Beatrix sleep with Larkspur, and just like she notices if I leave the bed when she is sleeping with me, I guess she notices if Larkspur goes missing as well. Eventually, we all made it back into bed. Last night is a good example of the reason why Jonny and I only managed to give up coffee for about two days (I only drink a cup a day, with lots of milk.) I’m glad we did it anyway. It was neat to watch my boys lying in a row on the floor, covered in a quilt, faces to the glass excitedly watching.

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