White Christmas!

So, unless it warms up all of a sudden, it looks like we'll have a white Christmas after all. We got about 2 inches of snow on Thursday, much to the delight of the kids, and poor mama, I had to run around all over the house looking for the other matching mitten, scarves, snow pants, and it's-around-here-somewhere-this-is-where-I-saw-it-last-#$%!!##-snowboots! ahem. Sorry, four children breathing down my neck hollering for snow clothing can wear a mama out!

After I finally gathered together all the snow clothing, dressed them warmly, sent three out of four children on their way, I hoped for at least 20 minutes of knitting time, but it was not to be. Ten minutes out the door, Sylvia was done. Then Gretchen and Evelyn followed. Time for hot chocolate and candy canes. A call to Daddy at the mall to please buy Peter some gloves so he doesn't stand by the window and wail and flail and cry in frustration at being stuck in the house instead of outside shoving snow in his mouth. Anymore wailing and flailing and I might be the one wailing and flailing!

It's been cold here, I'm not complaining, it's been pretty mild up to now, and we managed to get away with not having a fire for most of November. Our stockpile of firewood is not as big as I'd like it, so any day not having a fire is another day saved. We may get some more snow, wait and see, I hope just a little more, not so much to keep family away for Christmas day. I have a big turkey in the freezer for Christmas dinner, and I hope I'll be able to cook it for all our guests and not just us. I may get a back-up ham just in case.

Winter Solstice is almost here. I've been talking for years about wanting to celebrate this day with the kids, and I am going to do it this year. A walk in the woods would be nice, making something to hang in the trees for the birds to eat and welcoming Winter with some small treat for us. I'd love to hear your ideas if any of you celebrate the Winter Solstice.

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The Last of Summer 2010

These 3 tomatoes represent the very last of summer's harvest. This is the first time we have eaten fresh tomatoes from my garden all the way into December! Before the first hard frost hit, back in late October, I harvested nearly all the green tomatoes. I left behind quite a few on the vine, and was going to get the rest the next day, but the next morning found them all mushy and limp under Jack Frosts' touch. Oh well, I still had the first harvest, which filled 2 milk crates-- nearly 8 gallons of green tomatoes!
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Our sun room was an add-on by previous owners, and we think there's no insulation, plus the windows are those slat-type windows, which all equals to either a very hot room in the summer, or a very cold room in the winter. Makes it perfect for storing green tomatoes and letting them ripen slowly. The tomatoes that got moldy or mushy went to the chickens and we salvaged some by cutting off the bad parts. I have one lonely tomato left and I am amazed that I've been able to eat fresh this late in the year.
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Andrew and I have long stopped buying taste-less tomatoes at the stores, preferring to wait until either the farm stands have them in the Spring, or from our garden. After the last tomato gets eaten, we'll be relying on all the tomatoes I canned over the summer-- more than 60 quarts worth! We are eating well.
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All in all, I'd say 2010 was a very good year for tomatoes! There are a few changes I want to make for 2011's garden, but I'll probably plant the same amount, tie them up the same way, use the soaker hoses again, and use the same old carpet for weed blocking. I won't be planting the dark purple cherry tomatoes, or the yellow and red striped ones, but then again, I didn't intentionally buy those and I think they were mix-ups from the farm store where I bought the plants. The purple cherry tomatoes were tasty, but the skin was tough and I was pretty much the only one eating them. I ended up mixing them in with the canned tomatoes for extra flavor. The yellow and red striped ones were pretty, but not much in the flavor department and they got mushy fast.
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As every gardener says, I am looking forward to the next garden and am already dreaming of trying new vegetables and new ideas for old planting habits. I hoped to have a winter garden this year, but time got away from me. Maybe next year will be the year!
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My goals for 2011 garden are:

• 2nd compost built
• strawberry patch
• asparagus patch
• grapes
• apple trees
• peach tree
• trim and train blackberry vines
• try onions (again)
• try broccoli (again)
• try cabbage (sigh, again)
• small greenhouse made from recycled materials
• chicken-proof netting around rhubarb
• herb garden

I think it's all do-able, not too costly to implement most of these, and I got some of the materials needed for some of the projects already. As soon as the holidays are over, the January birthdays have been celebrated, it's time to get started on 2011's garden!

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Final Advent Calendar Post

I finished those last ornaments for the Advent Calendar and I promised I'd show you, so here they are. (sorry for the poor picture, I still haven't quite gotten the hang of my new camera) I planned to make a Santa face, with a hat and beard, but as I put it together, I just didn't 'feel' it, so I just made the hat. Besides, what do you think of when you see a red hat like that? Why Santa, of course! The last few ornaments, I had to really push myself to finish them. When I first started this, I would complete 3 or 4 a night, and by the end, I barely finished one. I have some ideas for other little ornaments, but I have all I need now, and maybe next year I'll make another set and switch them out every other year. Who knows.

We all really enjoy this one and from where I usually sit at the dining table, I get a nice view of it and you can often catch me sitting there, admiring it. I'm very pleased with it. We are all looking forward to hanging up the very last ornament, the star, to see the completed tree. I'll be sad to pack it up after the holidays, but just think how good it will be to pull it out again next Christmas!
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Sickies

We have major sickies here. I can't remember the last time all of us have been this sick at the same time. Feels like the flu, but without the constant hot and cold. We're on our 2nd box of tissues in 3 days and my stock of cough medicines is quickly getting depleted.

I just did a major cleaning, trying to kill any germy-germs. Mopped the floors with a solution of water, bleach and lemon oil. Wiped down the walls, door knobs, fridge, pantry doors, anywhere the kids touch. Changed all the sheets and blankets (5 beds-- that's a lot of linens!). I dressed up the kids in warm clothes and coats, and took them for a walk in the woods-- fresh air did them good.

Appetites are at a low point here, and it's hard to cook a meal when I'm not hungry either, so there's mostly grazing, if anyone is hungry. I'll be making homemade chicken soup for dinner tonight and hopefully it helps some of us feel better.

I'll be back when the sickies are gone. Stay well and have a good weekend.
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I Hate When I'm Right

The day after Thanksgiving, we put up the tree. Since Peter is two this year, we put up the big one (when there is a toddler in the house that does not really understand "no", we use the little tree, put up high, which in our house, seems to be every other year). We've had this tree awhile, though I can't remember if we got it when we lived in the apartment over 10 years ago, or at the first house.


Anyway, while I was putting the tree together, I had a feeling that it was going to be the last time I put it up. The first night, we didn't put up any ornaments, just the lights, since it was getting late and I wanted the kids in bed on time. The next day, while I ran errands, Evelyn couldn't wait for me to get home and went ahead and started putting up ornaments. When I got home with her brother and sisters, they got all excited and raced to put up the rest of the ornaments. I was a little uneasy about it, but they checked each ornament with me as to where to put it: top, middle, or bottom, or in other words: breakable, durable, no worries.

The tree looked great when they were done. They were so proud of themselves, and we really enjoyed seeing ornaments we hadn't seen in 2 years (little tree has its' own ornaments).

We all went to bed and when I woke up in the morning, Andrew informed me that the tree got knocked over, ornaments broke and the tree broke. Oh no. I hate when my gut feeling proves right. I inspected the damage, and sure enough, the tree cannot be fixed. After some thinking, I got two cinder blocks, a galvanized tub and rigged the tree to stand.

It works! I had to take everything off the tree; the ornaments, the lights, everything. Then all the branches. Then slipped the cinder block over the "stem" and another cinder block to keep it steady. The tub actually makes it look nice, rustic-looking. After putting the branches back on, re-stringing the lights, and only putting up ornaments that won't break if it falls again, it looks pretty good. Looks like I'll be checking the clearance sales after Christmas for a new tree.

Any ideas what to do with this old one? I have an idea to take some of the branches and see if I can twist them into a wreath, but I won't need many branches for that. I'd like to try and recycle as much of it as I can, so it doesn't end up wasting away in the landfills.

Cleaning Up!

Thanks for all the Advent Calendar love! The kids really enjoy putting one ornament up a day, and I've got 3 more to make. I'll show you the last set after I'm done.

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Sitting in my foyer for the past year were boxes of clothes that the kids had outgrown. I hoped to sell them at the consignment shop, but that never happened. Later, I hoped to sell them at a yard sale, but with Andrew's crazy work schedule, that never happened, either. So the clothes sat there. The kids would play over there and get into the boxes and pull some of the clothes out, or some toys got stashed and forgotten there, or more things were added, but not boxed. It was blocking the front door, which we never use, but still, it was a fire hazard, and frankly, an eyesore.

I decided that donating all the clothing to the thrift store would do more good than having it sitting in the foyer, so I tackled it, finally! It was one of those days where the stars aligned and the 2 older girls went outside with daddy to hang up 'No Trespassing' and 'No Hunting' signs, and the younger two kids were happy to watch movies in the living room within sight of me. I went through the 12 or so boxes we had in the foyer, making sure nothing we wanted to keep ended up in there, and then added another 8 boxes of clothing from around the house-- my closet, the kids' closets, the basement.

Right away, Andrew and I loaded up the van so there'd be no putting it off. 20 boxes of clothes went in there!! Whoa. I didn't realize there were so many clothes around the house. There's still a few more boxes I need to go through downstairs, but I ran out of room in the van, not to mention I ran out of steam, too.

Amazing how much bigger the foyer looks without all the boxes cluttering it up! It felt good getting rid of all the clothing. We took it to the local Goodwill in town and within the next few days, I spotted some of my things hanging in the racks. I might have been able to make a little money off them had I sold them myself, but honestly, I just don't have the time to do it anymore, and this way, we are helping people and getting a tax donation out of it. I'm now going through the toys, making way for newer ones the kids are getting for Christmas, whittling down what we have into something more manageable. Peter doesn't play with the baby toys anymore, so those are going, too.

I hope to take at least another 20 boxes of stuff, not all toys, but stuff we've collected and no longer use or doesn't sell well on ebay. Andrew and I really want to get rid of the clutter and in order to teach the kids to clean up their messes, we need to be an example, too.

That stars might align again tomorrow, Andrew is going to be working the woodpile, so maybe the kids will want to be outside with him? Wait and see...

Have a happy weekend! :o)
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Finshed: Advent Calendar!

I was determined to finish this today so I can hang it on the wall December 1st and I did! *jumping up and down* Yay! I worked on the buttons this afternoon, using vintage white and clear ones from my stash, then after the kids went to bed, I worked on sewing the backing and the tabs. I'll change out the dowel later, the one I'm using is super thin, but it'll do for now.

I love it! I've never made anything like this and I really had fun!

I have 7 more little ornaments to make; 2 more stockings and 5 random ones. The main thing is that the calendar is done and on the wall, I can finish the ornaments by the end of the week, probably tomorrow night or Thursday. I have a few started, but I ran out of floss in certain colors, so I had to make a stop at the fabric store for more thread.

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I didn't take a picture of it, but the tabs and backing fabric is made from a green and white checked flannel receiving blanket from one of the girls when she was a baby. I can't remember which girl, but I've had it awhile, and I just thought it would be special using it for the back. It works perfectly and adds to the charm of it.

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A special 'Thanks' to Jill for coming up with the sew-along! I never would have done this or it might have been started and then gone to where the rest of my unfinished projects go. I'm ready for the next project-- let's go!

:o)