Saturday, February 5, 2011
self reliance
Project self-reliance is in full swing! First step: canning. Step two: gardening. Step three: sewing. In the early winter, I successfully made a few batches of cran-strawberry jam. I've got a 5-gallon bucket (need a big crock in the worse sort of way!) of pickles brewing as I write. I'll finish those up in the morning, and I'm searching for ideas on my next canning project! I LOVE this new-found hobby!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
I should be charging for this information!
Okay parents. I have a SECRET. I think it's worth about a million dollars at least, but I'll give it to you right here, today only, for FREE! This secret can change your life!
Okay, enough of the theatrics, but I'm really excited about something that happened today. The past few days I've just been in kind of a funk. Do you ever get like that? Just out of sorts a bit. It's a rare occurrence, but once in a while, I just want the world to stop, to be quiet...not to have to make any decisions (for me it's the thousands of insignificant decisions I have to make in a day that exhaust me the most), not to have to think, not to have to explain, not to have to speak at all.
Today during craft time, I experienced just such a moment...a long moment! For the younger ones (2 1/2 years old) it lasted about 40 minutes, and for the older ones (both 4) it lasted an hour and 10 minutes!
I had planned for the kids to make collages...and it was a huge hit...for kids and mom alike!
I had some toy catalogs left over from Christmas, so I ripped out a few pages for each kid. I gave them each a piece of construction paper, a glue stick, a pair of safety scissors and their pages from the catalog. I CANNOT BELIEVE how long they sat and without a word worked on these collages.
How often do you think I could use this project with the same effect? Once a month? What are your secrets for scoring some quiet time during the wakeful hours? I'd love more ideas! Not only did I love the quiet time, but I loved that my kids were doing something that they thought was so interesting and that they WANTED to work on for so long!
Hope you can get yourself some free time out of this too!
Okay, enough of the theatrics, but I'm really excited about something that happened today. The past few days I've just been in kind of a funk. Do you ever get like that? Just out of sorts a bit. It's a rare occurrence, but once in a while, I just want the world to stop, to be quiet...not to have to make any decisions (for me it's the thousands of insignificant decisions I have to make in a day that exhaust me the most), not to have to think, not to have to explain, not to have to speak at all.
Today during craft time, I experienced just such a moment...a long moment! For the younger ones (2 1/2 years old) it lasted about 40 minutes, and for the older ones (both 4) it lasted an hour and 10 minutes!
I had planned for the kids to make collages...and it was a huge hit...for kids and mom alike!
I had some toy catalogs left over from Christmas, so I ripped out a few pages for each kid. I gave them each a piece of construction paper, a glue stick, a pair of safety scissors and their pages from the catalog. I CANNOT BELIEVE how long they sat and without a word worked on these collages.
How often do you think I could use this project with the same effect? Once a month? What are your secrets for scoring some quiet time during the wakeful hours? I'd love more ideas! Not only did I love the quiet time, but I loved that my kids were doing something that they thought was so interesting and that they WANTED to work on for so long!
Hard at work!
Cheeeeeeeese!
Hope you can get yourself some free time out of this too!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)