Wishing you all a Merry Christmas.
Love,
Merilee
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Laundry
Monday is my laundry day. It always has been. When I was growing up, one of my favorite book series was the "Little House" books. Actually, they are still among my favorites. In the first book, Little House on the Prairie, one chapter talks about the daily lives of Ma, Mary and Laura. They had a specific job for a specific day. The saying went like this,
Wash on Monday
Iron on Tuesday
Mend on Wednesday
Churn on Thursday
Clean on Friday
Bake on Saturday
Rest on Sunday.
Those pioneer women were smart! Yes, I realize they probably did things that way because some jobs took a long time (laundry) due to not having the convenience appliances that we have today plus they also had other things to do (cook, wash dishes, chores, tend the garden). But the principle is good. Do one major job a day and then you'll have time to do the other things you want and need to do.
So anyway, I channeled my Pioneer Woman and set Monday as my laundry day. I will do laundry on other days if necessary but the Big Laundry Day is Monday. And yes, there's times when I put it off for several days. This week was one of those times. Doing laundry is not my favorite job to do but there is something really satisfying about seeing those baskets of dirty clothes disappear, to be replaced by the clean clothes, and to see previously empty drawers and hangers get filled with clean clothes, and to replace the empty hampers in their respective homes. This state of laundry bliss only lasts a few hours--until the first person changes clothes, but I know that those clothes can (and will!) stay in the hamper until the next laundry day.
Even though there's 5 of us now, laundry's not quite the chore it might be. I've set up a system that works pretty well and gets my two older children doing their fair share of work in the laundry area.
So this is how it goes: I tell my children to gather their dirty clothes and bring their laundry baskets to my room. (Even though they have laundry baskets in their rooms, they still throw things on the floor, in the closet and under the bed). They separate out their own clothing. I'll separate the clothes in the basket in my room and from the hamper in the bathroom and gather up kitchen linens from the kitchen). During the day, I'll wash and dry the loads. Then I'll bring the baskets of clean laundry to my room. At this point what happens next depends. If I've procrastinated and started laundry late, I'll dump everything on my bed and call everyone in for a Laundry Dig. Everyone (me, DH and the two older children) will dig through the pile and gather their own things. DH will hang up/put away his own things. OK (older kids) will dump their stuff in their baskets and cart them back to their own rooms and hang/put away. I'll deal with my own stuff, the baby's stuff and "public" stuff like bath towels and kitchen linens. If I'm a good girl and keep on top of laundry, I will put away my stuff, DH's stuff, baby's stuff and public stuff. As I find the OK's stuff, I will toss it into their baskets. When they get home from school (or when I'm done), they'll cart their baskets to their room and put away their clothes. It works pretty well!
So, I finally got everything done yesterday. I know I only have a few days to enjoy the laundry-less time but I'll enjoy it while I can!
Wash on Monday
Iron on Tuesday
Mend on Wednesday
Churn on Thursday
Clean on Friday
Bake on Saturday
Rest on Sunday.
Those pioneer women were smart! Yes, I realize they probably did things that way because some jobs took a long time (laundry) due to not having the convenience appliances that we have today plus they also had other things to do (cook, wash dishes, chores, tend the garden). But the principle is good. Do one major job a day and then you'll have time to do the other things you want and need to do.
So anyway, I channeled my Pioneer Woman and set Monday as my laundry day. I will do laundry on other days if necessary but the Big Laundry Day is Monday. And yes, there's times when I put it off for several days. This week was one of those times. Doing laundry is not my favorite job to do but there is something really satisfying about seeing those baskets of dirty clothes disappear, to be replaced by the clean clothes, and to see previously empty drawers and hangers get filled with clean clothes, and to replace the empty hampers in their respective homes. This state of laundry bliss only lasts a few hours--until the first person changes clothes, but I know that those clothes can (and will!) stay in the hamper until the next laundry day.
Even though there's 5 of us now, laundry's not quite the chore it might be. I've set up a system that works pretty well and gets my two older children doing their fair share of work in the laundry area.
So this is how it goes: I tell my children to gather their dirty clothes and bring their laundry baskets to my room. (Even though they have laundry baskets in their rooms, they still throw things on the floor, in the closet and under the bed). They separate out their own clothing. I'll separate the clothes in the basket in my room and from the hamper in the bathroom and gather up kitchen linens from the kitchen). During the day, I'll wash and dry the loads. Then I'll bring the baskets of clean laundry to my room. At this point what happens next depends. If I've procrastinated and started laundry late, I'll dump everything on my bed and call everyone in for a Laundry Dig. Everyone (me, DH and the two older children) will dig through the pile and gather their own things. DH will hang up/put away his own things. OK (older kids) will dump their stuff in their baskets and cart them back to their own rooms and hang/put away. I'll deal with my own stuff, the baby's stuff and "public" stuff like bath towels and kitchen linens. If I'm a good girl and keep on top of laundry, I will put away my stuff, DH's stuff, baby's stuff and public stuff. As I find the OK's stuff, I will toss it into their baskets. When they get home from school (or when I'm done), they'll cart their baskets to their room and put away their clothes. It works pretty well!
So, I finally got everything done yesterday. I know I only have a few days to enjoy the laundry-less time but I'll enjoy it while I can!
long time no blog
Well, it has been forever (it seems) since I last blogged in August. I've had plenty to say and I've written many posts in my head but when it came time to actually type said posts, I thought about it and said, 'forget it'.
What has happened since the last post in August? The biggest thing was that we had a baby boy! Baby Boy was born in early October. He is 2 months old now and is such a joy! Also Older Sister and Big Brother started school. We have also done some house projects. We celebrated Halloween and Thanksgiving. And now it's time to think Christmas!
I hope to blog more regularly about what's happening in my life as well as my thoughts on random subjects such as homemaking, scrapbooking, sewing, gardening--in short, all the things I like to do.
What has happened since the last post in August? The biggest thing was that we had a baby boy! Baby Boy was born in early October. He is 2 months old now and is such a joy! Also Older Sister and Big Brother started school. We have also done some house projects. We celebrated Halloween and Thanksgiving. And now it's time to think Christmas!
I hope to blog more regularly about what's happening in my life as well as my thoughts on random subjects such as homemaking, scrapbooking, sewing, gardening--in short, all the things I like to do.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Organizing and projects
Well, the "nesting" instinct kicked in this summer. I have been working on various organizing projects around my home.
[ scrapbook stuff ]
I have 8 banker style boxes labeled "scrapbook" of various flavors (mission, wedding, kids, high school, college, etc.) stacked up next to my work table. One day last week I pulled out one of them to see what was in there. I was surprised to see a bunch of hanging folders labeled with different categories and some stuff already in them. I put them in one of my crates and started going through other boxes, filing pictures, cards, letters and other memorabilia in the appropriate category. I have now got 3 empty boxes. The crate with the hanging files is stuffed rather full now but things are organized in a way that when I am ready to start scrapping, everything will be together. Once the organizing is done, the actual scrapping should go pretty quick. I admit I did throw away a lot of stuff. Some of it I couldn't identify and other stuff was old cards and letters. I read through them and didn't feel any particular desire to keep them so out they went after a few moments of enjoying them. Can't keep everything!
I finished the Disney scrapbook and put those pages along with the pages from our 2003 trip to Washington State (for a Swain family reunion) into a new binder that is labeled "Vacations". That really thinned out the Family book--which will get filled right back up soon. Another part of this scrapbook project has been to find pages that are partially done, get them done and put in chronological order by year and now they are ready for page protectors and to be put in the family book. I have a stack of finished pages 3 inches thick ready to go in!
[ cross stitching ]
Another hobby of mine is cross stitching. I had a lot of partially finished projects that I decided I would just buckle down to and get done. Most of them just needed the sort-of-boring part done. For example, one project was a snowman that just needed the white part filled in. Which doesn't sound so bad except that there were large areas of just white and I find that gets boring after awhile. But this time I just did it. I need to go get those finished projects out and count how many I've done. Some I will frame, others I'm going to try my hand at making wall hangings, pillows or other decorations. I'll post pictures later.
[ sewing ]
My third hobby is sewing. Again, I had a lot of partially finished projects. Right now I am working on a Peter Pan costume for Jordan. I originally started it as a dress up costume but Jordan wants to be Peter Pan for Halloween so I am working on that one first. With Baby Swain due 2 weeks before Halloween, I need to get costumes done early! Christie wants to be a witch so as soon as the Halloween fabrics come in, I will go get some to make her a cape and a black dress. I also had a basket full of clothes that needed mending. Mostly replacing missing buttons or fixing hems. I was surprised at how quickly I got those mending projects done. I have a box full of old blue jeans that have been outgrown or worn out that I want to cut into squares and make a blue jean quilt. So that's another sewing project to work on.
As I finish projects and get boxes emptied, those boxes go out! The banker boxes I collapse and bind together with bungee cords and store in a closet for other use. Packing boxes get recycled. And I get more "open space"! There's something very freeing about finishing projects and finding places for them in my home and getting rid of the boxes and opening up space. Same for going through storage boxes that usually are full of junk that gets thrown away/donated.
[ scrapbook stuff ]
I have 8 banker style boxes labeled "scrapbook" of various flavors (mission, wedding, kids, high school, college, etc.) stacked up next to my work table. One day last week I pulled out one of them to see what was in there. I was surprised to see a bunch of hanging folders labeled with different categories and some stuff already in them. I put them in one of my crates and started going through other boxes, filing pictures, cards, letters and other memorabilia in the appropriate category. I have now got 3 empty boxes. The crate with the hanging files is stuffed rather full now but things are organized in a way that when I am ready to start scrapping, everything will be together. Once the organizing is done, the actual scrapping should go pretty quick. I admit I did throw away a lot of stuff. Some of it I couldn't identify and other stuff was old cards and letters. I read through them and didn't feel any particular desire to keep them so out they went after a few moments of enjoying them. Can't keep everything!
I finished the Disney scrapbook and put those pages along with the pages from our 2003 trip to Washington State (for a Swain family reunion) into a new binder that is labeled "Vacations". That really thinned out the Family book--which will get filled right back up soon. Another part of this scrapbook project has been to find pages that are partially done, get them done and put in chronological order by year and now they are ready for page protectors and to be put in the family book. I have a stack of finished pages 3 inches thick ready to go in!
[ cross stitching ]
Another hobby of mine is cross stitching. I had a lot of partially finished projects that I decided I would just buckle down to and get done. Most of them just needed the sort-of-boring part done. For example, one project was a snowman that just needed the white part filled in. Which doesn't sound so bad except that there were large areas of just white and I find that gets boring after awhile. But this time I just did it. I need to go get those finished projects out and count how many I've done. Some I will frame, others I'm going to try my hand at making wall hangings, pillows or other decorations. I'll post pictures later.
[ sewing ]
My third hobby is sewing. Again, I had a lot of partially finished projects. Right now I am working on a Peter Pan costume for Jordan. I originally started it as a dress up costume but Jordan wants to be Peter Pan for Halloween so I am working on that one first. With Baby Swain due 2 weeks before Halloween, I need to get costumes done early! Christie wants to be a witch so as soon as the Halloween fabrics come in, I will go get some to make her a cape and a black dress. I also had a basket full of clothes that needed mending. Mostly replacing missing buttons or fixing hems. I was surprised at how quickly I got those mending projects done. I have a box full of old blue jeans that have been outgrown or worn out that I want to cut into squares and make a blue jean quilt. So that's another sewing project to work on.
As I finish projects and get boxes emptied, those boxes go out! The banker boxes I collapse and bind together with bungee cords and store in a closet for other use. Packing boxes get recycled. And I get more "open space"! There's something very freeing about finishing projects and finding places for them in my home and getting rid of the boxes and opening up space. Same for going through storage boxes that usually are full of junk that gets thrown away/donated.
Monday, June 23, 2008
summer school
I am not a homeschooler but I do believe children should have learning activities during school breaks (especially summer) to keep them mentally sharp and learning. Each May I vow I will have my children do learning activities and each summer we don't do it.
This year I found a new idea that I thought would help us with the school activities. It's called lapbooking. We have really enjoyed and are on our second week of school. June 9-13 we did an unit on outer space. Last week (June 16-20) we were supposed to do a weather unit but we had something going on nearly every day so school got pushed aside. This week (June 23-27) we are doing an unit on the human body. We made lapbooks for the space unit and C&J had so much fun making them.
Before I explain how we made the lapbooks, let me explain how I decided on topics. I decided to use what my children learned in school over the past year for our units so we are not really learning new stuff but reviewing what they have already learned. Next week we will talk about America, and then other topics we will cover are: Australia, Native Americans, Pioneers, South America, magnets, plants and animals.
We cover one topic each week (we do school 4 days a week with a field trip on Thursdays). I choose a religious story that has to do with the topic. I also find books that have information about the topic. Tuesday is our library day. My children can choose 4 books: one must be about the topic we are discussing this week, one must be a grade-level book (to keep up their reading skills) and then the other two can be whatever they want. They write a book report about their topic book. We collect information, draw, color or cut out pictures that illustrate what we are learning, and find other information that then goes into the lapbook. We also do math review.
So, here are some pictures of our outer space lapbooks.
First, I took a file folder and folded the outer edges so they meet in the middle. Then C&J wrote the title and their names on the outer flaps.
I cut a piece of construction paper to 8x11" and used clear packing tape to tape the paper to the left side of the folder at the crease. Then I cut another piece of paper to 8x11" and taped that to the right side of the folder at the crease. This made two extra pages. We made planets out of construction paper and glued them on the black page.
The other side of the black piece of paper has the vocabulary list. The green paper has pictures the children drew of the Creation story (as told in Genesis 1 and 2).
The other side of the green paper has pictures I took at the Clark Planetarium (our field trip) of the International Space Station and a weather set like the one our local TV station uses.
The back of the folder (blue section) has pictures of the scale model of the solar system at the Planetarium.
The left flap of the book has a picture of the space shuttle and one of the children looking through a telescope with a brief explanation of why they are important.
The other flap has pictures of C&J "visiting" the moon and Mars.
We had a lot of fun making these lapbooks. We did something every day to add to the lapbooks so the children were excited about school time. I think this will make it easier and more motivating to do summer school because it is fun and the children have something to keep and read.
This year I found a new idea that I thought would help us with the school activities. It's called lapbooking. We have really enjoyed and are on our second week of school. June 9-13 we did an unit on outer space. Last week (June 16-20) we were supposed to do a weather unit but we had something going on nearly every day so school got pushed aside. This week (June 23-27) we are doing an unit on the human body. We made lapbooks for the space unit and C&J had so much fun making them.
Before I explain how we made the lapbooks, let me explain how I decided on topics. I decided to use what my children learned in school over the past year for our units so we are not really learning new stuff but reviewing what they have already learned. Next week we will talk about America, and then other topics we will cover are: Australia, Native Americans, Pioneers, South America, magnets, plants and animals.
We cover one topic each week (we do school 4 days a week with a field trip on Thursdays). I choose a religious story that has to do with the topic. I also find books that have information about the topic. Tuesday is our library day. My children can choose 4 books: one must be about the topic we are discussing this week, one must be a grade-level book (to keep up their reading skills) and then the other two can be whatever they want. They write a book report about their topic book. We collect information, draw, color or cut out pictures that illustrate what we are learning, and find other information that then goes into the lapbook. We also do math review.
So, here are some pictures of our outer space lapbooks.
First, I took a file folder and folded the outer edges so they meet in the middle. Then C&J wrote the title and their names on the outer flaps.
I cut a piece of construction paper to 8x11" and used clear packing tape to tape the paper to the left side of the folder at the crease. Then I cut another piece of paper to 8x11" and taped that to the right side of the folder at the crease. This made two extra pages. We made planets out of construction paper and glued them on the black page.
The other side of the black piece of paper has the vocabulary list. The green paper has pictures the children drew of the Creation story (as told in Genesis 1 and 2).
The other side of the green paper has pictures I took at the Clark Planetarium (our field trip) of the International Space Station and a weather set like the one our local TV station uses.The back of the folder (blue section) has pictures of the scale model of the solar system at the Planetarium.
The left flap of the book has a picture of the space shuttle and one of the children looking through a telescope with a brief explanation of why they are important.
The other flap has pictures of C&J "visiting" the moon and Mars.We had a lot of fun making these lapbooks. We did something every day to add to the lapbooks so the children were excited about school time. I think this will make it easier and more motivating to do summer school because it is fun and the children have something to keep and read.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
i'm an old-fashioned gal
Yep, I'm an old-fashioned girl. I love homemaking arts and being at home. My favorite books are the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I can't decide which is my favorite--Little House in the Big Woods or Farmer Boy. I enjoy these two books in particular because they have so many details of farm life--the work of a farm, butchering, making candles, making fabric, making cheese, smoking meat, etc. etc. So I decided I'd do a book review chapter-by-chapter of Farmer Boy.
FARMER BOY, chapter 1
Almanzo's clothes are described. How the wool that made the fabric came from his father's sheep and what his mother used to dye the wool. I bet the only thing that was "store-bought" were the buttons.
They walked a mile and a half to school. In the snow. Deep snow. I can't imagine too many kids doing that these days--either they ride the bus or their moms take them to school. That would be character-building--to walk a total of 3 miles a day in cold weather and not grumble about it.
Apparently bullying knows no time boundaries. Those big boys from Hardscrabble Settlement sound like quite the bullies. I'd be scared too, if I knew they only came to school in the winter and for the express purpose of beating up the teacher. I do wonder, though, why other families in the school didn't do something about it. Like tell those boys they couldn't come to school or something.
Interesting that a term was defined as the length of time it took for the teacher to spend two weeks with each family. Wonder how many families were in the school.
I like the standards of expected behavior: no whispering, no fidgeting, keep your eyes on your book. Students today could take a page from the pioneer school book.
Well, that's it for chapter one. More tomorrow.
FARMER BOY, chapter 1
Almanzo's clothes are described. How the wool that made the fabric came from his father's sheep and what his mother used to dye the wool. I bet the only thing that was "store-bought" were the buttons.
They walked a mile and a half to school. In the snow. Deep snow. I can't imagine too many kids doing that these days--either they ride the bus or their moms take them to school. That would be character-building--to walk a total of 3 miles a day in cold weather and not grumble about it.
Apparently bullying knows no time boundaries. Those big boys from Hardscrabble Settlement sound like quite the bullies. I'd be scared too, if I knew they only came to school in the winter and for the express purpose of beating up the teacher. I do wonder, though, why other families in the school didn't do something about it. Like tell those boys they couldn't come to school or something.
Interesting that a term was defined as the length of time it took for the teacher to spend two weeks with each family. Wonder how many families were in the school.
I like the standards of expected behavior: no whispering, no fidgeting, keep your eyes on your book. Students today could take a page from the pioneer school book.
Well, that's it for chapter one. More tomorrow.
so long, marlee
Well, it was great while it lasted but this week Marlee Matlin got voted off Dancing with the Stars. She had two low scores in two weeks and apparently the fans decided not to keep her. I'm disappointed because I really enjoyed watching her but I'm also proud of her for making it this far and showing the world what she could do.
Thanks for a great ride, Marlee.
Thanks for a great ride, Marlee.
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