Wordless Wednesday: Happy Halloween!!

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Here are the little ones enjoying Halloween treats after breakfast this morning.  We are having a casual, relaxing day of treats, coloring and crafts and hoping the rain stops before tonight.

Hurricane Sandy, Plant questions and other Tuesday Talk

So how is Hurricane Sandy effecting all my blog friends out there?  Are you all safe and sound?  I am doing okay.  We are getting some wind and rain but nothing too scary.

I have a question about plants that I planted in pots outside.  I planted a non-edible plant with basil, chives, mint and broccoli down in the pot.  Now, that the weather is getting bad, I guess I have to bring them in.  I am trying to let the broccoli go to seed so that we can collect the seeds.  After it has gone to seed, will it keep growing, or will it die?  Will it grow broccoli again next year?  Will the chives and mint and basil be okay?  The basil is getting a bit poorly looking but the rest of it looks pretty good.  Should I pick some and dry it?  If I do pick and dry it, how do I cut it without killing it?

My girls have fun in my living room and while they make a mess of breakfast crumbs and toys and couch cushions but then I look at the chaos and see moments of pure creativity that makes  me smile.  I love their creativity and their imagination. 

I look forward to my lease being up.  I need to have a house that has room for everyone. I would love it if each of the kids could have their own bedroom. I would love it if there was a dining room or somewhere that I could turn into a classroom.  It is not working having Little Prince sleep in the living room.  And I really need a space that I can dedicate to homeschooling supplies.  I want in a neighbourhood that is safe, where the police don't have to do regular rounds every day, where the kids can play outside and be safe, where I can decorate my yard without having to worry about the kids in our neighbourhood destroying it what I put out there, where I can put clothes on the line without neighbourhood kids coming by and ripping it all down,  and let the kids play outside worrying about their safety, where there is enough room in the yard for the kids and a veggie garden and a swing set, sandbox and swimming pool, I really need more storage and I need all of that in a house that is affordable.

Melancholy Monday

Just a quiet day at my house today.  I did a LOT of laundry and house cleaning.  The girls did some more Halloween stuff for homeschool. It is fun and a nice change.  I am waiting to see how this hurricane is going to effect us.  I just hope we don't lose power for as long as we did when I lived here before.  I am a little nervous, but not too bad. 

I am missing quieter days in quieter places. It is funny, there is so much going on here all the time and I want to take advantage of it all, but I long for quiet days where the kids run around and play outside and nobody terrorizes them.  Where I can grow a garden or put something nice in my yard without worrying about someone destroying it. Where there is fresh air, open spaces and quiet days.

Craft sale fun

I took Princess Belle to a large local craft fair just for fun.  We had a good time looking at the goodies and she had fun tasting all the samples.  Here are some pics of the stuff we saw:'

These are sparkly Christmas decorations.  Princess Belle loved them!

 This is beautiful, handmade pottery, Princess Belle couldn't figure out why anyone would want to hang a crumpled instrument on their wall.

There was a whole display of beautiful things made out of silverware.  These are bud vases made out the handles of butter knives and forks or spoons, there was all sorts of creative things done with them.

This is Princess Belle looking at all the silverware creations.  

I loved this display of handmade (ceramic ?) mushrooms.

This is a pic of just the lower level of the fair.  There was two levels.

These fish were awesome.  They were made out of POP BOTTLES????  Princess Belle went into the middle of them and pretended to be swimming.

These are the mugs.tea pots, and jars that I posted yesterday.  They were really cute, even if a few of them were a little spooky.

There was a whole display of cute little aprons.  Princess Belle found this one and thought it was perfect for one of the girls in our house.

I posted this yesterday too.  It was a whole display of pickles and jams and other preserves.  It all looked fabulous.  The man laughed at me being obviously a little spooked by the jar of pickled onions.  One look at my expression and he was quick to explain that it was onions pickled in malt vinegar.

There was LOTS of baked goods there.  I as very tempted but didn't buy any and didn't even sample one little nibble!  Princess Belle was quick to do that for me though LOL.

Princess Belle wanted a picture with this Santa, but he was selling framed pictures (there were rather expensive and I didn't have that kind of money on me) and she couldn't understand why Santa would need the money since he makes all the presents.  He heard me explaining that it was he could buy supplies to make all the presents and he leaned over and whispered in my ear that as long as I took it with my cell phone so that no one would see, he would chat with her and I could snap a picture.  He was very sweet and brought tears to my eyes.

Saturday Photohunt: * Spooky* and On a Shelf

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The theme this week are * Spooky* and On a Shelf. The spooky theme was hard until I started looking through some pics I took yesterday at a craft fair. And while this may be a bit of stretch, some things there were just a little bit spooky at first glance.

This display was of mugs and pots with faces ON A SHELF.   They were super - cute but I found some of the faces to be just a little bit SPOOKY looking back at me.

There was a lovely display with lots of canned goods ON A SHELF but the bottles of onions pickled  onions in malt vinegar (which is a dark brown) freaked me out at first, I found it SPOOKY how much it looked like a bunch of bottles of pickled eyes ON A SHELF

This Moment: first discovery of the halloween decorations

A beautiful and fun Friday ritual. Inspired by SouleMama.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. – Amanda Soule

Little Prince

Can you believe that is has been 7 months since we added a little blue to this house filled with dollies, dresses and lots of pink?

Little Prince is a great baby.  He eats everything he can although it still has to have to lumps in it.  He is happy and lights up whenever anyone happens to look his way.  He loves attention and hates to be alone.  He is getting to be a more sensitive sleeper and so sleeping in the living room is becoming more of a challenge.  The girls adore him more and more every day.  They are always anxious to play with him, to talk to him and to make him smile and laugh.  Here is a photoshoot I did in my backyard.

Wordless Wednesday: Seven Months OLD!!!

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Yay

I am so excited!  We got a new (used) dryer!  It was a great deal that included delivery!  As the weather has been getting colder it has been taking too long for the clothes to dry and with four kids and a houseguest, we have a LOT of laundry.

So today, I did THREE whole loads of laundry without even working that hard. Which is great because I haven't been sleeping well lately, due to stress and it is leaving me with a lack of energy. So caffeine and things to make my life easier get me through the days.

I have also been trying to catch up on other things, so I also got our kitchen cleaned up and last evening we decorated the house for halloween.  It was cute to see how excited Princess Belle was to help decorate and how excited the little girls were to see the decorations when they got up.

Measuring Up

I just read a post that brought me to tears.  I have been feeling stressed lately, feeling like I am not measuring up, like I am failing in so many little ways.  And reading this post was honestly like sitting down at a table with a dear friend, sharing a cup of coffee and having her pat me on the back and encourage me, reassuring me that it is all going to be okay, it will all work out.  I even read it out to Prince Charming and sobbed as I read it.  I needed that today. 

Today, my girls ate fruit for breakfast and were thrilled.  Today they did pumpkin preschool and loved it.  Today they shared chicken stew for lunch and were excited by it.  Today we watched Sesame Street and learned about numbers and letters and cuddled and had fun.  Today, my four-year-old girl finally asked me if she chould use the potty and succeeded. (one of my feelings of failure was this struggle.)  Today my kids had a good day.  That is all I should need to feel like I measure up.

Great Finds! And what ARE these things?

The local Zellers is going out of business. The restaurant in the Zellers has already closed and in that space is all the restaurant supplies for sale. I went in and had a FABULOUS time! I bought so many things at such great prices. I love to cook and I LOVE restaurant quality supplies. I even bought some empty menu holders to use for homeschooling. They would be great to put printables in to keep them nice and probably even for writing on with dry erase markers.

The following is just some of the loot that I got! I forgot to take pictures of some things.   I am so excited by it. I may go back late and hit them up for some shelving solutions too.

Two 16 piece sets of dishes!  And in RED my favorite color for the kitchen!

A Sugar dish! I may go back and see if they have another one to use for powdered coffee creamer

An AWESOME chefs Knife! It is my new favorite knife. I LOVE how it cuts and how it feels in my hand.

And these things. Does anyone know what they are??  They are REALLY big, about as long as my arm and quite heavy and thick.  I LOVE them and they would look nice displayed with my old fashioned washing board.

 On another note, I have made some space available in my place for some bulk food storage.  I am going to get some food grade bins and use to store some bulk dried goods.  I have been stocking up on groceries and my pantry is full, my fridge is full and my freezer is full.  It makes me so happy to see all that food there for us.