Ornaments

WARNING: Do NOT eat. This is only meant for decoration.

1 cup ground cinnamon
1T ground cloves
1T ground nutmeg
1 T ground ginger
1 c drained applesauce (I don't know how to drain applesauce, so I just used applesauce)
2 T white craft glue
Flour

1. Combine the spices in a mixing bowl.
2. Add the applesauce and glue.
3. Work in all the ingreadients with hands until ingredients are mixed thoroughly, mine was almost spongey.
4. The recipe I'm copying says at this point you can add food coloring, but I'm not sure what the point would be.
5. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to approx. 1/4 inch thick.
6. Cut dough with cookie cutters.
7. Make a hole at the top of the ornament.
8. Lay out flat to dry in room temp. for several days (one recipe recommends turning them over).
9. When completely dry, thread the ornament. I'm thinking about using glitter glue to at least outline the ornaments.

These smell really yummy, and are supposed to keep their smell for quite a long time. I also read that you could add a bit of essential oil to it to refresh the smell.

The Mother of Invention

The morning started with Caleb being, well, Caleb. A boy, noisy, active.

The morning started also with me being, well, me. A mom still waking up, quieter by nature, liking a peaceful environment.

As I once again asked Caleb to please us an indoor voice, I had that familiar twang of 'am I just asking him to be something that he isn't?' Then I found myself telling him firmly "Go downstairs, turn on the lights on, and run and scream and do what you want to do. You are a boy, it has been raining for five days, and you have every right to want to be active and noisy. However, this is my home too, and I have every right to want to be able to eat my breakfast with some sort of peace." After he tried to argue out of it and realized I wasn't budging, he and his sisters went downstairs.

Soon the noises of children being children came upstairs. With the stereo loud enough I couldn't tell if they were arguements, getting hurt squawks, or having fun noises. I even managed to begin a menu for next week and ponder the weekly task of a grocery list.

After having ten of these blissful minutes, I was able to go downstairs and enjoy their noise. As I watched them play a game with fabric laundry baskets and nerf balls, I had an idea. I went into our storage room (also known as the 'I don't know where to put it room") and looked for a hammer and nails. Then I put two nails into two facing ceiling beams. Voila! Basement basketball.

As I moved on to getting the laundry started, the phrase 'necessity... the mother of all invention' came to mind. And I was especially delighted that whoever thought up that phrase knew that it woman, and especially a mother, who would come up with all creative solutions.

Perspective

I owe my friend Renee thanks for posting this on her blog:
http://www.miniature-earth.com/

When I grow up...

Anna announced tonight at dinner, "I want to be a preacher, like dad and mom."

*sigh*

Pottery

Tonight was the night to pick up my work from five weeks of pottery through our regional adult ed. None of my projects were done on the wheel. And the whole glazing thing sort of still baffles me.

The class was fun, although an odd assortment of women taking the class. Some were there for the joy of pottery, and some were there to just crank out loads and loads of Christmas crafts. I went hoping to meet people. Pottery class in Maine is not a place to meet people.

But I have gravy boat (upper left hand-I've been wanting one for eleven years!), two new mugs (will report on their coffee worthiness tomorrow), and six little hands that are marked with name and year, so that in twenty or thirty years the kids can tell their kids, this is how big my hand used to be. Am I a sap, or what?

Little Girls

As we did an impromptu photo shoot before church this past Sunday, I realized that I no longer have a toddler and a baby. I have two little girls. What a joy to watch them grow....

Parenting Report Card

Anna just followed me into my little office hole.

"Sometimes you're the best mom, mom." And just before I could feel too all warm and fuzzy she completed her thought, "And sometimes you're not."

That about sums it up.

Google QOTD

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?"
Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."
- Charles M. Schulz

Carrot followup

Caleb was so thrilled with his work as Junior Carrot Peeler, he asked if we could PLEEEASE keep the peels in the sink until Daddy got home from work (6 hours later in the day). As a compromise, we took a picture, let the disposal take care of the peels for us.

Carrots and kids that get older

Hee, hee, hee.

I've snuck away for fourteen minutes at the computer. The girls are napping (or faking it sufficiently) and Caleb is peeling a bag of carrots in the kitchen, just thrilled with himself and the job.

I'm not sure what I'm delighted with more... the quiet house with shadows of leaves dancing on my wall, or the work that is play that is happening in the kitchen.

Okay. Fourteen minutes is nearly up.