Good Things.

They say:

"Good things come in small packages."

It's true.

But sometimes,

Good things come in big packages.

 The thing about both is:

No matter what size they come in,

everything is better when it is shared.

 ("Hey, guys.  You are going to share and let me play sometime, too,
 right?")

Letting It Go.

I have the same problem as she does.

 *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

My father is a giving person.  I can remember going out with him to the mini-market when I was a child, and he would let my older sister and I pick out a favorite snack...a little bag of pistachios, a brownie in a package, an ice cream sandwich.  He would often come home with a little trinket of some kind for us.  He showed his love by giving us little things to let us know he was thinking about us.

I kept those trinkets, those reminders that my dad loves me.  It was very hard for me to imagine just throwing them away.  I kept letters and notes from friends.  I kept the little bookmarks I had received in classrooms and Bible school.  I kept my childhood stuffed animals.  "Things" symbolized memories to me.

Thankfully, I had a mother who threw things in the trash, usually when I was out.  I think I would have filled the whole house if she didn't.  Even still, I had boxes and boxes of stuff when I married.  My husband refused to be buried in the boxes and helped me weed through what I didn't need.  It was incredibly hard for me, so I picked out the 5 or so things that really meant the most to me from my dad, handed my husband the garbage bag, and let a few tears fall as he pitched my stuff into the darkness of the bag.  I was afraid I'd feel the calls of my things, like the Velveteen rabbit I'd read about in my childhood storybook.  But I didn't.  In fact, it was just the opposite.  I felt relieved.

Stuff is just that: stuff.  Certainly, there are important things and heirlooms.  Some things carry history with them, like my husband's wooden butter mold that was his great grandmother's,

 

the ring that was his grandfather's,

my great grandmother's platter.

 Some things are just too dear and sentimental, like the little box that holds the sweet letters kept by my husband's grandfather to and from his grandmother, as well as pictures of when they were young.

There's the little iron cart and horse that is one of the only things I have from my grandmother and
the handmade cabin my husband's grandfather made.

But it took me some years to realize that many of the memories we have are just as valuable as they are.  The little trinkets that come along the way are not always necessary for the memories, unless their value or beauty is worth keeping around to take up the space they use in our homes.

It is a lesson I am now trying to teach to my daughter.  She keeps the packaging from toys, pamphlets with horses on them, old stickers she has peeled up too many times for them to stick anymore.

 She cries when things get thrown away, or worse yet, she digs them out of the trash when I'm not looking, and I wonder how these things keep coming back.  She holds onto things like her mother used to, and I want to spare her from that trouble.  I struggle with hurting her feelings, but wanting her to learn to...
let go.

Letting go is a worthwhile ability to master as much as appreciating and treasuring things. Sometimes it is a step of courage and an act of betterment.  It almost brings a breeze of fresh air into the soul.  But for those of us who make every favorite moment into a treasure we want to physically hold, it can be hard...really hard.  I find myself fighting the "but what if I need this...what if someday I can't buy this item again...what if..." shadowed by the two or three times when it actually happened that I needed the tossed item and had to go searching for a new one.  But I have to tell myself: the weight of all the things I have let go and not needed is far superior to those handful of times when I have missed them.  The fragile precipice of needing and appreciating things stands incredibly close to the pitfall of being in bondage to the things we live with.  Finding that line is a tricky thing to learn, and an even more difficult one to teach.  A cozy home is often one rich with beautiful, meaningful things, but also one that is not cluttered with unimportant stuff...
or worse yet, junk.

  In a funny way, that transfers over into all of life: learning what is truly important ("love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" Galatians 5:2-23a) and letting go and giving to God the things we cannot control and the things that would weigh us down ("all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings." I Peter 2:1).

And so I try to help her...by weeding through my closet and getting rid of things I don't wear or need, rummaging out the cupboards full of dishware stacks that will never see the armies they could feed, letting go of craft supplies for entire classrooms of 30 kids rather than the three whose eyeballs peer over their books into mine, relinquishing old trinkets and stuff that just clutters up the house while appreciating and caring for the things that are found to be worthy of some space. 

The gift that goes on giving in life isn't always one that keeps.  Sometimes, by letting go and giving up those things we have been collecting for the dust and spiders to web up, we are releasing blessings waiting to be transferred to the hands that actually need them.

It is a journey we are on,
and we are stumbling through it together.




(We all have certain love languages...ways we express love, ways we feel loved.  Sometimes, that helps us see why we expect love in certain measures; or why we feel disappointed if those expectations are not met.  It is helpful to face these expectations.  Here is a great place to see what your love language is: www.5lovelanguages.com  Surprisingly, mine turned out to be "words of affirmation" rather than "receiving gifts" as the person inside of me would have thought, what with having a hard time letting go of things.  But I guess we all need a bit of all the love languages anyhow, don't ya' think?  The test is a fun one to take to figure out your own.)



Linking up to:
Gnowfglins.com

Simple Ways: Stucco and Silver

I just mistook self-tanning cream
for hair conditioner.
I kept wondering why the tangles were not loosening from my wet hair.

Yes, it has been that sort of Monday:

Phone tag
(why is it people realize they need hay delivered on Mondays,
and need it NOW),
puppy disasters in the form of holes dug right outside the doorway
same place, same mud pit as last Friday,
as well as chewed up items that I will not mention but that made me gasp and then screech
which sent him running out the back door;
home-schooling frustrations regarding division
(and I thought I disliked division the first time around;
teaching it to a child who wants to skip as many steps as possible,
no matter how many times I reinforce that all steps are necessary,
well, let's just say 'challenging' is putting it mildly,
like calling a severed finger a hang nail that has gotten out of control);
cooking atrocities compounded by substituting wrong ingredients;
stepping in evidence that the chickens have been sneaking up on the porch again...

with my socked foot.


Yes, that sort of Monday.


I had great plans of posting a great story of a great lesson I had learned,
but I lost it somewhere,
I think between my toes.


So, rather than wax wordy about things that have been lost upon my tangled brain,
I will post a simple project,
in the hopes that simplicity will return to Tuesday,
(although that wind whipping outside just now sounds like it is a bit flustered by Monday as well.)



I had a little box,
nothing would it hold.

Actually, it was a cute little box I got at a yard sale or somewhere for a quarter or so.

I decided to use it as a sort of pedestal on my mantel for an old bird I found,
so I spray painted it with some silver spray paint,

and then mixed up some plaster of Paris into some white paint,

good and thick, mind you,

like mashed potatoes, or angel food cake frosting,

or something else unfood-like so I'll stop making myself hungry.

I taped a favorite stencil I had made from an image at the Graphics Fairy

and used on my living room cupboard.

I like to use Frog Tape for this because it holds VERY well,

but it doesn't pull up any of the paint with it.

I painted this thick as frosting paint onto the stencil

and carefully pulled it up,

wiping it after each use
before moving it around the box.

There were minor smears,

but perfection is not always worth the difficulty of attaining it on some things,

or so I tell myself.

It adds just a bit of different height to the mantel,
a sweet perch for the bird in her nest.


Perhaps I will fasten the troubles of Monday on her wings and let her fly away...

But now I'll go get some tea and sit by the woodstove and listen to the wind...

and ignore that puppy snoring on the couch,

and try to focus on the season,

realizing that many have faced annoyances and much greater frustrations,
a part of life for all of us on earth.


"And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea,
unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife,
 being great with child."

Luke 2: 4- 5

Yes, I have little to complain of...

and so I'll say,

'Goodnight.'



Linking up to:
Abowlfulloflemons.net

funkyjunkinteriors.net

Bedifferentactnormal.com 

Graphicsfairy
Nominimalisthere
Cedarhill-ranch.com
Todayscreativeblog.net

A Sugar Bowl Full of Christmas Tree

My Christmas this year is a bit of a challenge

with a 3 year old who is intent on involving herself in every project I attempt

and a puppy who presumes he should do the same.

Do you know how many shredded bits of snowy stuffing I have picked up off the floor,

never knowing which one of the two has done it.

I realized yesterday after picking up the same five pieces on the living room floor about five times

that the puppy was watching me throw it into the trash can

and removing it as soon as I walked away.

So you can see why I decided to concentrate on the fireplace mantel.

I found a silver creamer and sugar bowl for about $1 at a yard sale,

probably because the lid was missing from the sugar bowl.

Wanting to do something with them,

I found cardboard cones left-over from thread I had used up.

(if you don't have a cone, one can be made by wrapping posterboard or heavy cardstock into a cone shape

or

there is a great cone pattern from Danielle's Place of Crafts and Activities

under her Feathered Christmas Tree Craft for Kids.

(This website has lots of GREAT craft ideas as well as actual lessons

 for Sunday School or home-schooling.

Be sure to check it out!)

I also grabbed some brown wool my sister-in-law had given me from her sheep,

a toilet paper roll,

my glue gun,

and some moss ribbon.

I started by covering what would become the trunk of my tree,

the toilet paper roll,

with the brown wool.

One could substitute anything for this:

a piece of felt,

burlap,

or just paint it brown.

Next I put some glue on the end

and sat it into the sugar bowl.

The glue from the glue gun did not want to hold it,

so I put a ring around it inside of the sugar bowl as well.

E6000 glue might work for a more permanent hold,

but I wasn't too concerned about it holding fast in case I want to use the sugar and creamer for something else.

I put some white wool around the bottom of it to fill in the sugar bowl

and give a snowy look.

Covering the cone was fun.

There were so many variations that could be done:

jute or heavy jute,

feathers

or

music paper,

yarn, lace, burlap, velvet, flannel,

fun patterned material;

it's endless, really.

But I had purchased some artificial moss last spring,

and thought it would add some variety to the white trees on my mantel.

Glue-gunning worked well for this.

This was an easy craft
that was finished in a small amount of time.







And they are safe up where no little hands or paws can reach them...


I hope.



Linking up to:
Abowlfulloflemons.net
Cedarhill-ranch.com

funkyjunkinteriors.net

Todayscreativeblog.net 

Somewhat Simple, A Crafty Soiree at Yesterday on Tuesday, Thursday Favorite Things at Katherines Corner, Link Party at Centsational Girl, Inspiration Friday At The Picket Fence, The Best Christmas and DIY Crafts Ever at The Nesting Place, Link Party at Craftberry Bush, Feature Friday at Five Days 5 Ways, Clever Chicks Bog Hop at The Chicken Chick
Homespunhappenings: Rustic-restorations-weekend-linky-party.html

Simple Autumn Love: My Fall Mantel.

Can you believe it is fall already?

Where did the days of summer fly off to?

 I didn't climb up to the attic to fetch the fall decorations this year.

I just decided to use some natural decorations

 like the little gourds a friend gave my kids,

the hydrangeas that I dried a few weeks back,

a small fresh tansy bouquet in an old jar,

and some red maple leaves

(these are in the leaf-painted jar I experimented with last week).
The old farm lantern belonged to my husband's grandfather.

The huge picture on the mantel was a crazy yard sale purchase this summer.

I thought the print was pretty,

its fall simplicity and simple life drew me into it,

although the gold strip on bleached wooden frame made it look a bit too 60's,

so I painted the frame white.

The lady holding the yard sale was doing it as a help to her sister

 whose husband had just passed away.  She needed new tires,

and all the proceeds of the sale were going to it.

I found a few things I liked,

and the picture happened to make it into that list.

This old looking slat box was very inexpensive at the Charity Store

because it had another slat coming down that was hanging off.

I pulled it out and found this image at the Graphic Fairy

that I thought might fit well.

 After printing it on tan paper,

I inked the edges with a yellow stamp pad 

and then a brown stamp pad,

with the help of a soft sponge.

 I colored in the wording with a permanent gold marker I had

and then crumpled the whole thing up.

 I was trying to get the paper to have an aged look to it.

 I picked a bouquet of purple beauty berry bush for another old jar.

I have dried them before and although the leaves will wither,

the berries still hold their color for the season.

The decorative candles were a gift from my husband's aunt

and bring fond memories when I pull them out of my candle box.

 It is a simple fall mantel,

but I think simple was a nice change for me.

(If you'd care to join me,
I will be posting my favorite/family recipes for the month of October,
a new recipe every day.)

Linking up to:

Time-warp-wife.blogspot.com 
Theprairiehomestead.com
Betweennapsontheporch Graphicsfairy.blogspot.com 

Themodestmomblog.com 

Cozylittlehouse.com 

Abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com 

Centsationalgirl: fall mantels 

End of Summer Garden Specials: How to dry Hydrangeas and How to Make Peppermint Extract.

This is the garden I pass on my way to the clothes line every day.

The fragrance of mint is strong

and it is welcome,

even though it has clearly gained dominance in the flower bed.

If it were spring, 

I would tear into this patch with a vengeance to remove it's greedy presence,

but as almost everything else has had it's moment of glory,

I allow it to run wild

with the promise that I will gain from it.

This weekend, I decided to act on my threats.

Fist fulls of chocolate mint and peppermint were collected.

I also made time to gather up the hydrangea blooms to dry while I was out

since they were at the perfect stage for picking and drying.

I tried two methods of preparing my mints for their purpose

of becoming mint extract:

Pulling the leaves off the stems,

starting by snipping off the top most tender leaves,

and then grabbing the top of the stem...

 pulling the leaves from the top down.

They slide off rather easily this way

preventing the tedium of picking off each leaf.

 Any imperfect leaves were set aside from the good ones in the colander.

I then washed the separated leaves

with just a good spray of water,

and then set them out loosely on towels to dry.

 I also tried washing and then drying whole stems of the mint.

 (I found I preferred the first method

as the leaves were easier to pull from the stems before washing.)

These should then sit overnight,

so that they can dry out a bit.

The less water in them,

the stronger will be the extract.

Also, the leaves should only be left out for not more than a day

as all would be lost if the leaves start growing mold.

Once the mints were set out to dry,

I could turn my attention to preserving the hydrangea blooms.

I have found I prefer the "Sip of Water" drying method.

The blooms are stripped of all leavers,

and then the stems are placed in water.

The blooms by the time they are picked,

are slightly papery.  They are not soft.

 To pick them in this state is perfect because if a strong rain storm blows up while they are still on the bush,

it could damage the blooms.

They will drink of the water

until it is all evaporated,

and then the flowers will dry to a stronger dried bloom than if they were

air-dried upside down.

 Also,

one has the distinct advantage...

of enjoying the blooms while they dry.

The next day,

the mint leaves can be scrunched up

to damage the leaves and allow more of the oils to be released.

The leaves are then put into clean pint jars.

Once filled to about 1/2...

the leaves are completely covered in a bath of vodka.

These jars are then capped,

put into a cool, dark place,

and allowed to sit for about a month

when the lid can be removed

and the extract can see if it has strong enough flavor.

If so, strain out the leaves,

and use as an extract in baking.

Did you enjoyed any treasures from your gardens this weekend?

Linking up to:

Betweennapsontheporch
funkyjunkinteriors.net
momstheword
Keepingitsimplecrafts.com
frontierdreams
Homesteadrevival
Cornerstoneconfessions.com