Harrison Farm

I’m a gift bag saver and re-user.  Today Sudoku was packaging a few gifts and came across this tag from last year.  It’s a keeper.  Into Rosebud’s file it goes.

A down economy and winter are looming, but there is still so much to be thankful for.  The whole family is joining in on this post.

Good health. Reliable vehicles. A fireplace. Good neighbors. Playmates on the street. Reading time. Little Britches. Ballet lessons. Toddlers. Carman’s early morning routine. Good food to eat. Extended Family nearby. A roof that appears will hold up for another winter. Drawer organizers.  A great room big enough to play in.  A good summer camp experience. A new tent. Family camping.  “Woggles and snuggles.” “Throw me on the couch.”

Thanks to Flickr’s Old Shoe Woman for the pecan photo.  We eat pecans all year long.  But they remind me of Thanksgiving.

Playing as a family is a great way to make memories, but playing with children of different ages at the same time poses its challenges.  It’s usually too rough for the little ones or dreadfully boring for the older ones.  We’ve come up with a way to involve all the kids (except 1 year old Rosebud) in a fun-for-all game of family soccer.

We generally break the 4 oldest - mom, dad, Carman (age 11) & Sudoku (age 9) - into 2 teams.  Those teams play a regular game of soccer with sawhorses set up for goals.

Insert Doodle.  Read the rest of this entry »

We are on a family adventure of birthing a product line of organizers.  The harrisonfarm posts have been silent on those workings until now.  But to see what has been going on with us for the past couple of months, take a peek at our adjustable flatware organizers.  What makes these organizers unique is that they are adjustable.  That is, the individual compartments can be sized by you today and changed tomorrow if you get a new, slimmer can opener or that shrimp de-veiner you’ve been wanting (or whatever!).

The website is rather bare-boned at this point.  There are a lot of design changes we want to make as well as some info pages, menu bar, and more pictures to put up, but you can at least get an idea of what we’ve had our hands into lately. Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of months ago, I started the “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” book with Doodle.  I used the same book with Carman & Sudoku when they were young.  This being the third time, I’m very familiar with the book and am more relaxed and having more fun with it than I did the first couple of times.  Doodle is catching on quickly, and it is fun to see his slow but steady progress.

Despite the book’s title, the lessons are not all easy.  I try to limit each session to 15 minutes and only go beyond that if Doodle wants to.  With Carman & Sudoku, I believe it took a little over a year to complete the book.

This book teaches phonics and uses a different syntax (rather than spelling rules) to help kids learn about silent letters and long and short vowel sounds.  (The spelling rules are introduced later.)  The syntax can be a turn off to some people at first (eat is spelled with a tiny “a” to show that it is silent), but I know many parents who have used this book to teach their children to read after first trying expensive, high tech reading programs with no success.  As one mother of 5 said, Read the rest of this entry »

We were having chili for lunch.  Doodle took a sniff and said, “This isn’t chili.  It’s hot!”

Rosebud recently started watching some Baby Signing Time videos we borrowed from my brother’s family.  [I will be returning them at Thanksgiving!  Thank you for letting us borrow them for so long!]  Rosebud LOVES them.  She seldom initiates signs, but if I suggest something with a sign, she’ll usually respond with one.  This has been helpful with her, because, unlike our other children, at 18 months old, she is still not speaking (except for “ma-ma” and “da-da.”)

I recently read about how Baby Signing Time was born.  Rachel Coleman, the singer & song-writer who appears in the videos, has a profoundly deaf daughter.  Rachel & her sister produced Baby Signing Time, in part, to help make sign language more ubiquitous. Read the rest of this entry »

Once a semester, Sudoku’s dance class has a visitor’s day.  We got to watch her class a couple of weeks ago.  Let me to you, childhood ballet classes are not what they used to be!  Read the rest of this entry »

We appear to have succeeded in helping Doodle stop his long-time habit of sucking 2 of his fingers.  He had developed a pronounced overbite from four years of sucking, and we knew that the habit needed to be kicked before any permanent teeth began to erupt.

Instead of trying to coax him to stop sucking (as I had tried with Sudoku when she was little), we tried something a bit more devious. Read the rest of this entry »

Our drive to Asheville, NC was just beautiful with the leaves at their peak.  We went to celebrate the marriage of a dear college friend.  The wedding was held in a Greek Orthodox Church, so we heard Greek, ate Greek, and danced Greek!  It was wonderful.

It is beautiful to see an old tradition like that alive and well.  Read the rest of this entry »

I was recently cleaning out (again!) some of our bookshelves and weeded out books we didn’t want.  When I realized how little I could get for them from half.com or amazon, I looked into some of the book-swapping sites.  I decided to put my unwanted inventory at swaptree.

When you open a swaptree account, you list your inventory, and you make a list of items (books, cds, dvds, and games) that you want.  Swaptree works its magic by coordinating swaps between its members.  The more items you list and request, the greater your chances of entering into a swap.

It had been more than a month since I opened my account (I had listed about a dozen “haves” and “wants”), and I was about ready to give up on it, when I got a request for a multiple way swap.  Read the rest of this entry »

I always find good things at my neighbor’s yard sales. Saturday was no different.

4 unopened packs of loose leaf paper - $.10 each

3 pair of like new pants for Sudoku - $2 each

1 like new, short sleeve shirt for Doodle - $.50

1 colorful, like new organizer that hangs on the back of a car seat - $1

For a soy-free sandwich spread, just stir together the following:

1 part dijon mustard

1 part honey

3-4 parts sour cream (put in less if you like a lot of spice)

We like it on meat or veggie sandwiches.  You can use what’s left in a salad dressing.

At some point today (I think it was after the mower trouble) I remember thinking, “Can anything else possibly go wrong?” I didn’t say it out loud, probably because I knew the answer was yes. After all, none of the children were hurt - yet. Things getting worse was possible. And they did get worse. Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of weekends ago, we spent the day at Chickamauga Battlefield riding bikes, climbing the stone tower, throwing the aerobi, picnicing, and horsing around.  We all enjoyed the biking, Rosebud and Doodle were unsure about climbing the stairs inside the dark tower, and Carman saw how easily an aerobi can get stuck in a tree when throwing from a high tower.  Here are some pictures from our day. Read the rest of this entry »

Many moons ago, we ditched the default blue blob header on this wordpress blog.  It took us a while to figure it out, but once we did it, we thought we couldn’t forget.  Well, we did forget.  I finally figured it out again today.  Here’s how it’s done — because I’ll probably forget again in a few months. Read the rest of this entry »

From Booker T. Washington’s chapter “The Reconstruction Period”:

“The ambition [of the freed slaves] to secure an education was most praiseworthy and encouraging. The idea, however, was too prevalent that, as soon as one secured a little education, in some unexplainable way he would be free from most of the hardships of the world, and, at any rate, could live without manual labour.”

I know that I suffered from the same sentiment in my youth.  I wouldn’t have admitted it then, but it was there.  Now, as a college educated woman, who has never used my degree, and who has seen many friends fall into jobs and careers that didn’t require their expensively earned degrees, I ask myself about the real value of a formal college or university education.  Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a large hill on the other side of the river where we went last sping with some flattened out cardboard boxes.  The  older kids and Marathon went sledding while Rosebud and I strolled around.  Here are some pictures we captured that day.  It looks like we’re on top of the city. Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »

Doodle recently learned to ride a 2 wheeler. He’s the 3rd child Marathon has taught to ride, and his method has changed and improved since teaching Carman & Sudoku years ago.

Marathon used training wheels to help teach the older 2 kids, and they developed the bad habit of not leaning into turns. Instead they would actually lean in the opposite direction in an effort to keep the training wheels grounded.

So this time Marathon was determined to not use training wheels at all. Read the rest of this entry »

Finally!

Here’s my work around. The new Wordpress (version 6.2.1) gives the option (thankfully!) of uploading pictures by URL. So, until I figure out what the real problem is here, I’ll have to put photos into, say a flickr account and upload the pictures from there, rather than directly from my computer files. (Here’s where you can insert a sympathetic sigh.) Read the rest of this entry »

beethovens-symphony-no-9-scherzo

Here’s another attempt.

I hope to do a little more sleuthing today.  I almost can’t bear the thought of continuing a blog with no photos…Wish me luck.

I’ve reached a major frustration point with Wordpress. After reading on the wordpress forums, I learned that I’m not the only one having problems uploading images. Here’s another attempt at a work around.

Something happened about a month ago to this wordpress supported site.  Casual readers probably didn’t notice the change, but some of my menu choices are no longer present, and, most frustrating for me, I’ve been having trouble longer uploading pictures to the site.  Before I download the upgraded version of wordpress, I have to back up all of my files in case something goes wrong during the upgrade process. Read the rest of this entry »

Someone gave this definition of a dysfunctional family in a Sunday school class a couple of Sundays ago. I found it interesting as a sort of litmus test for how we’re doing. “A dysfunctional family is one that doesn’t talk, doesn’t feel, doesn’t trust.”

A few years ago, I heard from a distant cousin that meat tenderizer made into a paste with water would soothe the pain from a wasp sting.  I tried it out this summer on Carman and myself after getting stung.  It really works!  Carman went from breathing deep & squinting his eyes to breathing easy in less than a minute. Read the rest of this entry »

2 family camping trips. Both ended early. Stomach virus. Sinus infection. Car camping.  Primitive camping.  Traveled with a loaded van pulling a small trailer with a pile of bikes on it. Took forever to pack the first time. Got better at it the 2nd time. Read the rest of this entry »

There is a beautiful, old, wooded cemetery near our church where Marathon and I will sometimes stroll during the Sunday School hour. It’s a large place, and though we’ve been a few times, we still haven’t explored all of its nooks and crannies.

The last time we were there, we went to the far end of the cemetery. As we rounded a corner and headed toward the back, Marathon said, “This section must be for the poor” because it was absent of any large markers or headstones. The only markers were small and flat to the ground.

After getting closer and seeing how small the graves were, we realized this section was full of infants, mostly under the age of 2. There were graves with little matchbox cars and other toys on them. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve had a good week for swimming. The afternoon thunderstorms have stayed away, and we’ve had so much fun in the water! Doodle is experimenting and getting a little stronger every few days. It has been fun to see the older kids getting excited about his progress.

On Monday, Doodle was swimming with one pad in his vest. I was planning to take it out soon, so when Sudoku asked if she could try to secretly remove it, I told her to go for it. Read the rest of this entry »

Not long ago I wrote about how much we enjoyed reading Ralph Moody’s Little Britches. We’ve since read the 2nd book, Man of the Family, and we’re now in the middle of The Home Ranch. This series has been, hands down, everyone’s favorite. Read the rest of this entry »

We only swam a couple of times this week due to afternoon thunderstorms.  But Doodle was able to swim comfortably with just 2 pads in his vest yesterday.  At one point, he was humming as he drifted along in the deep end.  He’s figured out how to float vertically by leaning his head backwards.

Since Rosebud is my only spring baby, this is my first summer to experience swimming with a 13-17 month old.  Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve been enjoying the neighbor’s pool again this summer. Doodle has been wearing his little swimmer vest with 4 of the styrofoam pads in it. Then we accidently left the vest at my parents’ house a few weekends ago.

When we went swimming, I wanted him to try to swim without the vest. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m reading Booker T. Washington’s autobiography Up From Slavery and took note of an interesting section where Washington contrasts 2 different schools.  He notes Read the rest of this entry »

I finally tried my hand at making homemade yogurt.  The process is easier than I had expected. Read the rest of this entry »

I couldn’t pass up reading a book called “Man’s Search for Meaning,” knowing it was written by a holocaust survivor. Viktor Frankl went into the concentration camps as a psychiarist with a book in the works. When he came out, having lost his wife and parents, as well as his book manuscript, he went on to found logotherapy, a school of psychotherpy, that focuses on finding meaning in one’s life. Read the rest of this entry »

The question of storing lacto-fermentation has been brought up.  One of the beauties of lacto-fermentation is that you don’t have to “can” them in a water-bath or pressure canner.  The thought of boiling all that water in the middle of summer is stifling. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve had our HP 932c printer for 7 years now. During that time we’ve keep it running smoothly on primarily refurbished cartridges from Carrot Ink. Read the rest of this entry »

We make weekly trips to our local library for books and DVDs. After Rosebud was born, I started letting Carman and Sudoku carry our returns into our small library branch while I stayed in the car with the 2 younger children. They would return books, check out whatever items we’d placed on hold, and then we would leave. It’s a pretty quick errand when we don’t all go in and start combing through the books.

Whenever we would all go inside, the librarian would comment to me how confident Carman and Sudoku seemed. Read the rest of this entry »

While we were in North Carolina, Rosebud took her first steps (that Marathon and I were able to verify. Sudoku tells us she had taken a few at home a week earlier!) She’s been our earliest walker, starting right around 11 months. She’s been slowly ramping it up ever since.

Walking is her preferred mode of self-transportation. Here she is, showing her stuff.  This isn’t a great shot, but I like that it’s got her moving and smiling.

Rosebud also cut her 5th tooth about a month ago. Then a couple days ago, I noticed 2 more teeth on her left side, and one on the right is about to break through.

Doodle approached me slowly, with big eyes, whispering, “I hear a bomb! Listen, Mama.”

We were at my parents’ house in the living room. “You hear a what?”

“A bomb. Listen.” We listened quietly.  And he moved his finger to the time of…the grandfather clock’s pendulum.

Carman has been on a snake kick for a couple of months and is beginning to move on to motorcycles, so I thought we’d better capture what he’s learned about snakes here.

What to do if you see a snake: do not touch or approach it unless you know what it is. If you are bitten, do not panic. If it sees you moving quickly, it will think you are trying to strike it again (you really are not.)

If one threatens you, Read the rest of this entry »

Marathon purchased a AT&T cell phone a few months ago with the understanding (he had been expressly told and it was written in his carefully made notes) that he would receive a $100 rebate after the purchase. The salesman was helpful enough to fill out the rebate form on Marathon’s behalf, seal, and address the envelope. He told Marathon all he had to do was slap a stamp on it and put it in the mail.

Which is what we did.

You know how those rebates are - they seem to take forever to arrive.

When it finally did arrive, it was for half the amount we were told we would be receiving. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m using a computer that we purchased new in 2001. We’ve taken good care to protect it from viruses and such, but over the last couple of years it has gotten quite slow. For some time we entertained the idea of reinstalling - or reformatting- the operating system.

We decided to go ahead and take the plunge. The computer was getting so painfully slow that we were ready to repair it or - if that didn’t work - let it go. Read the rest of this entry »

We finished reading Little Britches by Ralph Moody a couple of weeks ago. I was familiar with the title but that was all. I’ll start by saying that after reading this memoir of the author’s boyhood, I’ve searched our library for more books by the author.

Little Britches is about Moody’s family adjusting to life on a Colorado ranch after having to leave New England city life so that his father could avoid the working conditions that aggravated his cough, a hangover symptom from tuberculosis. It’s a coming of age story, as Ralph works along side his father, finds his place in the local schoolhouse, and picks up odd jobs to help the family make ends meet. He learns about honesty, animals, and hard work. It’s a touching story about family life in the early 1900’s, highlighting a boy’s relationship with his father.

Rosebud’s birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and we went bowling - not because it was her birthday, but because a local bowling alley was having a homeschool bowling day. Rosebud, of course, didn’t get much out of that little outing Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve had this rope swing up in the yard for a couple of years now. Recently Marathon challenged Carman and Sudoku to climb up to the stump in the picture. They’ve both done it. Here’s Sudoku in the tree. She’ll often climb the rope multiple times a day.

As noted in an earlier post, we recently purchased a used van. There are used vehicles, and then there are used vehicles. You know, obviously used vehicles. Our is in the obviously used class, and, especially for a family with children, the obviously used kind comes with some hidden blessings: Read the rest of this entry »

We purchased a used minivan about a month ago. We had purchased Marathon’s truck through ebay a few years before and had gotten a great deal on it. Wanting to repeat that experience, I searched ebay reguarly.

The problem was finding something near us. Since we were not looking for anything unusual - unlike Marathon’s truck with utility camper - we didn’t want the burden of having to travel to see and pick up the vehicle. Also, at this point, Read the rest of this entry »

Right now there is a lot of green coming up in the yard - the grass, of course, the variegated monkey grass, shrubs and trees getting their new leaves…and there are little bursts of color from the ornamental apple tree and the beautiful honeysuckle bush. It’s a happy time outside for the birds and I.

I also like the rich brown color of damp dirt. I love working outside in the spring in anticipation of things to come. Of course, seeing the irises, daffodils, and tulips bloom, and the cleome and lily foliage emerge, just fans the flame. I wish I were as motivated to grow vegetables. Read the rest of this entry »

The weather has been wonderful lately - occasional soaking rains and lots of sun.  As an old college friend used to say, “Spring is busting out all over!”  Along with the new foliage growth, we’ve seen new kittens, fat caterpillars, baby birds, and lots of earthworms and grubs in the garden.  Here’s Doodle with his “friend” the fuzzy caterpillar. Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of days after we returned from the North Carolina trip, our hot water heater kicked the bucket. We had hot water for showers and dishes in the morning. Then in the afternoon, when I turned on the hot water, nothing happened. No water came out at all. After flushing out the water heater in case sediment was the issue (but finding almost none there) and realizing the heater was over 10 years old, we replaced the thing.

Not a very exciting way to spend money. But, boy, that hot water sure feels good.

Carman and Sudoku have been learning and experimenting with SketchUp, Google’s free 3-D modeling software. Carman has caught onto the concepts and maneuvers pretty quickly. Here’s a model he made of a lamp in our home. If you could spin the model around, as you can with the 3-D software, you could see underneath the lamp shade where there are metal spokes. He did a great job with this project.

While we were in NC, Rosebud’s favorite thing was to climb up the steps.  We would take turns being her “guardian angel,” walking along right behind her as she climbed.  So, whenever she started heading for the stairs (when we didn’t have the baby gate in place), Marathon or I would announce, “Guardian angel!” to let the kids know we needed help watching her.  As the week progressed, the kids somehow turned “guardian angel” into “guard a angel.”  Rosebud had become our little angel who needed guarding.

A couple of weeks ago, we had the opportunity to spend a week in the North Carolina mountains in the Bear Paw community outside Murphy.  Marathon had some work there, so the rest of the family tagged along and rented a house in the community.  The weather and Marathon’s work weren’t very cooperative, but the house (and its view) was wonderful. Read the rest of this entry »

The Spanish words “por” and “para” are both usually translated “for.”  Knowing when to use which word can be tricky for the newbie Spanish speaker.  When I was in college, I remember learning a couple of songs to help distinguish the two words.  Right now I can only remember the song about para.  It is sung to the tune “London Bridges Falling Down.”  The lyrics are as follows.   Go, ahead; give it a try. Read the rest of this entry »

Marathon picked up our latest game, Super Blockhead, at a consignment sale a couple of weeks ago when he was killing time before a meeting. The game’s object is the opposite of Jenga’s. You take turns adding blocks - most of which are irregularly shaped - to build a structure. The one who topples the structure loses.

It is a game we all (except Rosebud) can play. Fun! Here are some photos from our first game.

It’s crazy difficult to find any bulk (large quantity) supplies of bike tire patches and glue.

Wal-mart carries some cheap, consumer-grade glues, but no rubber cement. (Also, I’m a bit unclear on the difference between rubber cement and the “self-vulcanizing glue” sold with small patch kits.) Read the rest of this entry »

Doodle came into my bedroom this morning and announced, “Mama, I’m big now.  I’m 4.”

Me: “You’re not 4 yet.  You’re 3 1/2.”  He raised his arms in victory with a big smile on his face.

“Mama, how old are you?”

Me: “34.”

Looking very serious, Doodle said, “Mama, that is very far away.”

Doodle was invited to an Easter Egg Hunt with the other 3 & 4 year-olds from the church. Sudoku went with him in my place since Marathon & I were scheduled to be helping with some landscaping at the church. Doodle had a wonderful time; he found lots of eggs and had too many sweet things to eat. Read the rest of this entry »

A kind neighbor had been doing some work for a local hosiery and somehow ended up with a bunch of children’s socks. He came over and asked if we’d relieve him of his burden since he doesn’t have any children. I was happy to oblige.

After bringing the packages into the house I decided to wash them all. Not until they were unloaded in the washing machine did I realize how many there were! There are over 200 pairs of socks in the photo!

As luck would have it, the three sizes fit Carman, Sudoku, and Doodle. And there should be plenty left for Rosebud’s growing feet and plenty to give away too.

We ate Alaskan Salmon the other night, and Sudoku said, “Look, mama! It looks like there are flowers in your fish.” Sure enough. They look like tight little roses. Just beautiful.

At Chattanooga’s Niedlov’sNiedlov’s Bakery, bread is made the old fashioned way. It tastes sour, chewy, delicious - especially with a pat of butter.

Carman, Sudoku, a sleeping Rosebud, and I had the pleasure of visiting Niedlov’s Bakery with some fellow homeschoolers. Read the rest of this entry »

The latest read-aloud that we completed was The Great Turkey Walk by Kathleen Karr. At first I thought this book was a joke. At least, we used to joke about herding chickens when we would move them from paddock to paddock on our small farm several years ago.

But this book is about some serious poultry herding: 1000 bronze turkeys walking from Missouri to Denver in pre-Civil War America. Such turkey herding actually took place years ago. Read the rest of this entry »

A friend recently commented on the playfulness of our family. I must say — the family fun is mostly attributable to Marathon. He has always been playful. He was the smarty-pants class clown in school (from what I’ve gathered) and that spirit is still in him today.

Playing and goofing off is one of his ways of unwinding. Read the rest of this entry »

The kids and I recently read The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson about the building of the first Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheels I have seen and ridden are tiny in comparison to the first one, built to a whopping 264 feet (or 25 stories) in 1893 by Pittsburgh bridge-builder, George Ferris. The wheel was meant to rival the Eiffel Tower and was showcased at the World’s Colombian Exposition in Chicago.

To give you an idea of how grandiose it was, each “car” on a typical Ferris wheel can hold 2 people. The cars on the Great Wheel, however, Read the rest of this entry »

Rosebud had her first bites about a month ago.  In the photo Marathon is offering her mashed banana for the first time.  She didn’t take to it right away, but she likes bananas now.  Her favorite seems to be fried egg yolk from free range hens.  She also likes cooked carrots and sweet potato, and she’ll tolerate applesauce and yoghurt.  We also tried cooked green peas, but she doesn’t have enough teeth to deal with the skins yet.

Sometime over the Christmas holidays, when the cookie jar was emptied and cleaned, it got closed, sealed, and put away when it wasn’t completely dry inside.  I didn’t notice until I was ready to fill the jar again a month or more later.

The mildewy smell was evident as soon as I opened the jar.  Read the rest of this entry »

It was one of those gorgeous, windy, perfect-temperature days outside that just didn’t match the household happenings. If the weather mirrored my day it would have been gray, humid, and still. Read the rest of this entry »

Sudoku asked, “If an English speaking person and a Spanish speaking person were humming the same tune, would they sound alike?”

I’ve heard several different endings for the ABC song.  “Now I know my ABCs,….” followed by “next time won’t you sing with me” or “aren’t you very proud of me” or “won’t you come and play with me.”

Yesterday Doodle came up with his own version.  After reciting the ABCs (and omitting the letter N), he sang, “Now I’ve said my ABCs, yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.”

In an effort to help the kids (and ourselves) learn Spanish, we’re trying to use sign language to help us learn and retain vocabulary.  Learning signs has been easy with the help of Baby Signing Time, a DVD series my sis-in-law loaned to me.   Once we know the sign, we learn the corresponding Spanish word and use them simultaneously.  That’s the goal anyway.

That has been my focus this week.  It is difficult to get into the habit of speaking the Spanish words that I know.  But I find the more I do it, the easier it gets.  It is getting into the Spanish (or signing) mode that is difficult.

This review is by Sudoku.

I just finished reading Lumber Camp Library by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock. It is about Ruby Sawyer who is the oldest of 11 children. She loves to follow her dad, who is a lumberjack, and she loves to read books. The story is sad when Read the rest of this entry »

We read a couple of children’s books about Thomas Edison last week. I especially enjoyed Young Thomas Edison by Micheal Dooling. The oil illustrations are beautiful. We also watched a A&E biography about Edison. Here are some quick facts that we learned about him. Read the rest of this entry »

Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.

Dignify and glorify common labor. It is at the bottom of life that we must begin, not at the top. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the bread recipe I am currently using. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m about to write a post on my current bread recipe, and I realized that it probably won’t make sense to most people because there are a few additional steps I do that are unfamiliar to most. Before making the bread, I grind the wheat, then soak it in buttermilk (or other acidic liquid) for 12-24 hours before mixing the ingredients. Here’s why. Read the rest of this entry »

Seems like I’ve done a lot of music posts lately. Well, this is one worth it, I think.

We discovered the very talented Andy McKee a few months ago, and we keep going back to play his version of Toto’s Africa. For those not familiar with the guitar, notice how many of the sounds are produced by non-strumming actions.

I saw my first gray hair on my 25th birthday.  Now, 9 years later, I’m growing more aware of their expanding presence.  At a glance, I don’t look like I’m graying, but take a close look, and you’ll see that those tokens of age, worry, and care are sporadically laced throughout my hair.

Last weekend I plucked out 20-30 of them.  Read the rest of this entry »

“For we are always what our situations hand us. It’s either sadness or euphoria.”

– Billy Joel

. . . now for a different view . . .

“To be subjected to our lusts, and to yield to them, is the most extreme form of slavery. To keep those lusts in subjection is the only liberty.”

– Clement of Alexandria (c. 195 A.D.)

Liberty promotes peace, and peace promotes prosperity. - Ron Paul

Today was a beautiful day — felt just right in the sunshine with a sweater on.  We did school and house tending in the morning, had lunch, and then headed out to meet some friends at a park.

Doodle is at such a fun age.  Read the rest of this entry »

At 3 1/4 years old, Doodle still needs a nap most days. When he gets still in the afternoons, he falls asleep so quickly. Sometimes (but not always) he even says to me, “Mama, I need my nap; I love my nap.”

He’s currently into having lots of animals nap with him, as you can see. I just need to make sure he doesn’t sleep too long this afternoon. It’s beautiful outside now after the stormy weather we had this morning. - milkmaid

I’m afraid so.

I would be heart-broken if we weren’t intending to replace the countertops relatively soon.  I still feel terrible about it though, because I should have known better.

I was making croutons for our salad the other evening.  Read the rest of this entry »

My midwife told me about this homemade baby wipe recipe. I first used it when Doodle was a baby, and I’ve kept some around the house ever since. (They wouldn’t work well in a warm, humid environment [i.e. an un-air-conditioned place in the southeast] unless they were being used fairly quickly, because they would mildew.) They are inexpensive to make and are ultra-gentle on baby’s skin.

The container I use is Rubbermaid’s #6. It holds a double Bounty roll cut in half. Read the rest of this entry »

Carman, like all of the children, is growing. But his growth was particularly notable today when we compared foot sizes. Those feet in the picture are from different people. Hard to tell though, isn’t it? Mine is on the right; his on the left. - milkmaid

A happy for a rainy day. I love how you can “see” the movement and layers of the music in this video.

Well, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today. I saw mine today too. It was a wonderfully sunny day here. Marathon had work to do today, so the kids and I ran errands in the morning and then did something different: we ate lunch at our local Waffle House. (Groan….) Read the rest of this entry »

Follow these instructions for uploading photos from an email (or file) to the camera.  Hopefully I’ve written these instructions so that my 8-year old will be able to follow them.

Open the picture (from the file or email.)  In the picture viewer, select copy.  Save a copy in a new folder on the desktop.  (If doing this for daddy’s work, label the folder the name of the job mentioned in the email.)  Then label the photo DSC#####.JPG –  It is important that all letters be caps and the DSC is followed by 5 digits.

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