DIY Pallet Flat Storage

See more here.

DIY Pallet Picnic table

See instruction here.

The Door Is Always Open

The Door Is Always Open
Nancy Byrd Turner

If you come cheerily,
Here shall be jest for you;
If you come wearily,
Here shall be rest for you.

If you come borrowing,
Gladly we'll loan to you.
If you come sorrowing,
Love shall be shown to you.

Under our thatch, friend,
Place shall abide for you,
Touch but the latch, friend,
The door shall swing wide for you!

Come read Elizabeth's beautiful reflections about keeping an open door in your heart for all.

Nutella Coupons

At Redplum. Expires 4/26 /11, $1.00 off 13 ounce or larger.

Kindergarten/Early Elementary March Lesson Plans

March lessons plans for young children -The Plan Book: Primary, 1898. Free and in public domain. At link, right click on images of the pages to save. Good clip art for topics as well. Pages 657-768.

Quick view of suggested topic areas:

Groupon: $15.00 Ebay Gift Card for $7.00

See here. I just purchased this, so there are still some left on this offer. Sign in or join, then back click or reload deal page. I had trouble finding it again when I signed in, but this worked.

Decorating with Seashells

See more here.

Homemade Projects Tip Me Tuesday Link-up

TipJunkie.com is featuring a Homemade Projects Tip Me Tuesday link-up. There are so many creative ideas, almost 400 of them. A few of my favorites:

Free Printables From Amy

Making Children's Silhouettes

Newspaper Rose Gift Bows

Interactive Fabric Children's Quiet Books

Maori Basket Weaving(big basket tutorial)

Cute Free Bee Mine Graphic Image(Not featured, this was on her blog.)

Thrifty Spring Floral Arrangement: Branch in a Vase

Instead of forcing forsythia stems in a vase, try an entire branch! I really like this idea, and could kick myself for not buying a large round bottle vase like this at the thrift. It was only a few dollars. I do have a tall arching Japanese rose bush branch in a liter Diet Coke bottle which I plan to sink into a basket, but the colored glass would have been very pretty. Tree trimmings make a thrifty and dramatic spring floral arrangement.

Poured Out Into Our Hearts, "The Courage to Love"

The Courage to Love(2000)

"And hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless,
died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,
though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us."

Rom 5:1-8

We watched this movie recently via Netflix. It tells a difficult true story of the plight of light-skinned Creole woman of color from the viewpoint of Henriette DeLille in Antebellum New Orleans, shortly after the Louisiania Purchase. Mixed race Creole women were free people, illegitimate children of white landed gentry who had two families, one legal, and another on the side(Plaçage) with mixed race Creole women. The laws forbade interracial marriage. These educated and socially refined women where placed with these men via a series of balls(Quadroon ball). Henriette Deville chooses another path, and places herself in service to the poor with her church. She struggles against the Southern plantation owners to allow equal access to school, church, and medical care for slaves. Eventually she founds an order, The Sisters of the Holy Family. From Wikipedia: "Venerable Henriette DeLille (1813–1862) founded the Catholic order of the Sisters of the Holy Family, made up of free women of color, in New Orleans. The order provided nursing care and a home for orphans, later establishing schools as well. In 1989 the order formally opened its cause with the Vatican in the canonization of Henriette DeLille. She was declared venerable in 2010."

This movie was factual, well acted, and was without gratuitous violence or sex. It's a story of Godly faith, hope, and the courage to love; the portrayal of this story doesn't distract from this. Teenagers and mature younger children could watch this movie without cringing from embarrassment. Background history was well placed and covered in the movie, so you didn't get lost in understanding the time period and culture of New Orleans, or the realities of societal order in the Antebellum South. All in all, it was a pretty decent made for T.V. Lifetime movie. Vanessa Williams was beliveable and sympathetic as DeLille.

First Try: DIY Clothing Iron-Ons

This was my first attempt at trying to fuse plastic bags to fabric. I used a thin plastic shopping bag on my first attempt, and all it did was fuse to my wax paper. A thicker plastic bag did the trick.

I traced an image onto a white plastic bag using a Sharpie, then cut it out into a nice oval with clean edges, and placed it drawing side down onto my cotton t-shirt. I laid a piece of wax paper on top of that, then a piece of paper. With an iron on the highest cotton setting I pressed down for a few minutes, and ironed with a lot of pressure over area of the plastic bag drawing. It did not seem to be sticking, so I ironed the other side of the decal(through the shirt) just to get it good and melted. After it cooled a bit, I gently peeled the wax paper off.

It worked nicely, but my Sharpie was a little old and flat. I'd have gotten sharper lines with a new one. I have no idea if this will stay on through a wash, but for now it's firmly attached. I'll post an update. I'd like to try this again with colored plastic and/or different pen colors.

I tried drawing this snail free hand with the Sharpie but didn't like the results. I'm not a proficient artist; tracing is the way to go with my skill level. I'll go ahead and embarrass myself with a picture of my hand drawn snail - it's the one of the right. The stubby old Sharpie didn't help matters. Tomorrow I'll buy some fresh ones.

Paperless Wallpaper Created with Sharpie Pens

What a money saver! This was done using an overhead projector and a few Sharpies, but a purchased or homemade stencil would work as well. Click here.

Children's Rain Cycle/Evaporation Cursive Copywork

I found this story about evaporation in a 1910 "Primary Education" teachers' periodical. It is free and in public domain. Click on image to enlarge and save.

Bean Development Illustration

This is from a 1911 "School Arts" teachers' periodical. It is free and in public domain.

Click on image to enlarge and save.

Dollar Tree Chinese Dinner for Two

Sometimes I tire of making meals from scratch. It saves a lot of money, but an inexpensive frozen dinner is a lovely reprieve from kitchen duty. This Dollar Tree Teriyaki Chicken (196 calories per serving) for two was really delicious, just like Chinese restaurant food. I added about half a bag of frozen stir fry mixed peppers and onion(Save-A-Lot), minced garlic(Dollar Tree), and a splash of Japanese rice vinegar(Walmart). I served this over some delicious Mahatma brand(Walmart, USA grown) brown rice with soy sauce(real).

Dollar Tree also sells frozen bags of stir fry vegetables which I got along with their frozen salad shrimp(his favorite) for my son. Also found, two thick pizza crusts for a dollar, Hormel pepperoni for pizza(two pouch box), and a bag of ten tortillas.

Homemade Hyacinth Water

This year I added some daffodil flower leaves. I make this with 2/3 water and 1/4 alcohol(grain alcohol or rubbing), and stuff the bottle with hyacinth blossoms. Store in a dark place for two weeks, discard the blossoms, and you'll have some lovely scented water. It helps to shake occasionally while the scent is being extracted.

I've tried witch hazel and rubbing alcohol in lieu of vodka or grain alcohol; however, the scent is overpowering. I might try again using just a few drops of rubbing alcohol or witch hazel.

Dollar General $5 off $25 Coupon Good for 3/26/11 Only

I've been loving these frequent $5.00 off Dollar General coupons. I've been stocking up on store brand canned vegetables, beans, granola bars, juice, coffee, laundry detergent, and cold and sinus medications with these coupons. They have also had some good sales and prices on underwear, socks, and casual tops. I got a $2.00 embellished zippered long sleeved hooded layering top for my daughter this past weekend, and some $3.00 long sleeved soft cotton tops for myself - great for layering and around the house.

Click here for the printable coupon. It's also printing off the end of this week's register receipts.

Children's Vintage Spring Animal Cut and Paste, Drawing Lessons

I found these in 1909 and 1910 "Primary Education" teacher's periodicals. They are free and in public domain. Besides cut and paste, these could work well as traceables or for teacher's bulletin board displays.

Click on image to enlarge and save.

Spring Picnics

The weather has been gorgeous here, and we are enjoying the light breezes and perfect temperatures before the heat sets in. We have very long hot summers.

After she raided the kitchen, my daughter insisted that her older brother join her for a picnic this morning, and surprisingly he indulged her. Lent comes with some beautiful sacrifices.

On the menu:

- cheese sticks
- cheerios
- water


Her flower arrangement - lawn flowers.

First Garden Cucumber of the Year

My indoor organic Sumter cucumber plant finally produced an edible four inch cucumber(half eaten in image by my daughter). It smelled wonderful upon cutting and tasted even better. It is warm enough here that I was able to plant this potted cucumber outdoors today. I may try indoor cucumbers again next winter but use a much bigger pot and a plant light.

When planted outdoors, these Sumter cucumbers are prolific and of a good size. This will be my second year growing these cucumbers in the summer garden.

I'm not sure if these are self pollinators, but just in case they were not, I hand pollinated them with a paint brush. The female flowers have a bulge right before the flower. We ended up with many mini cucumbers, but only one grew large enough to eat.

Japanese Cherry Blossoms

This picture was taken last April, our Japanese cherry blossom tree in full bloom. This year ours has just begun to burst open with blossoms in mid-March. I'm reminded of the hundreds of beautiful spring cherry blossom trees in Japan and feel so heavy hearted for the Japanese people. They have been given so much to bear.

Red Cross donations for Japan.

Dollar General Coupon 25% Off Clover Valley Brands 3/19-3/20/11

Printable coupon is here. Offer includes the Sweet Smiles brand as well. Offer excludes sugar, coffee, bread, refrigerated, and frozen items.

Spring Rod & Staff Curriculum Sale through 4/15/11

There is a 10% off sale on Rod & Staff curriculum until 4/15/11 at Milestone Ministries. We've been ordering books from them for years. They are fast, accurate, and friendly. They've also got Pathway Readers, Schoolaid Health & Math, Climbing to Good English, and Apologia Science. Only the Rod & Staff curriculum are on sale.

I just finished ordering my son's Rod & Staff eighth grade books tonight. It's hard to believe how fast time has gone! I remember ordering Rod & Staff's cute learning to read program for him like it was yesterday. I had about 25% of his curriculum on hand from earlier ebay purchases, so that helped a little with the final price. Used copies for the higher grade curricula are bit more difficult to find.

We are required to test(or a portfolio) math and English at the end of the year, so I also had to shell out $25.00 for a CAT test. Thankfully, my Kindergarten daughter is exempt from testing this year. Beginning next year it will be $50.00 a year for testing, $25.00 for each child.

We are set for the next school year. I'm ready for spring break! ;)

Vintage 1910 Children's March Calendar(Same as 2011)

I found this in a 1910 March edition of "Primary Education", a teacher's periodical. I print out a vintage calendar every month for my daughter's homeschool area. Click on image to enlarge and save. Free and in public domain.

I'll Be Back

We are all sick with a cold virus. I'm not so inspired to post right now. I am thankful for the gorgeous weather we have been having. It was warm enough to doze in a lounge chair outside. The sun did my body good, and the children where able to play and work quietly near me.

Image - hellebore from my garden, taken last week.

Fabric Dollhouse Tutorial

See here.








HT to Craft Gossip

Moles and Daffodils

We went out into the garden this morning to find little mole tunnels throughout the lawn in the backyard. It needed aerating anyway, and the moles, as carnivores, keep down the population of insects(larvae) and slugs. My cat catches his fair share in the summer when they come up and away from the dry soil.

Enchanted Learning had a nice "Label the Mole" printout of a mole, and I've gone online to reserve a few library books about moles for my daughter.

Children's fact sheet about moles

I had no idea they were once prized for their pelts, as an aristocratic fur."Queen Alexandra, the wife of Edward the Seventh, ordered a mole-fur garment in order to start a fashion that would create a demand for mole fur, thereby turning what had been a serious pest problem in Scotland into a lucrative industry for the country. Hundreds of pelts are cut into rectangles and sewn together to make a coat. The natural color is taupe, but it is readily dyed any color."

Some of our daffodils after this morning's rain.

Ash Wednesday, The Beginning of Lent

Ashes placed on the head(forehead), the seat of pride, to remind of us of our mortality. Wearing the ashes symbolize our penance, contrition, and humility.

"for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return"

We wait for Easter, taking the 40 day journey of the soul through the desert with Jesus, in sadness for our mortality, but joyful of the gift of everlasting life. In and through Jesus we rise from the ashes through the open door of heaven.

More here with classic art work.

Young Children's Lesson Plan Ideas for March

Young Children's Lesson Plan Ideas for March(Vintage)

Ladybugs and Butterflies

Insect Lore Ladybug Land and Insect Lore Live Butterfly Garden

I purchased both these habitats online for $26.84 with free shipping. We received the larvae today(separate purchase of $3.00 each) and have been enjoying the babies scoot around in their containers. There is a coupon for the larvae and website address which comes with the habitats. These two did not come as eggs, but as second stage babies - larval ladybugs and Painted Lady caterpillars.

We also checked out the butterfly and ladybug Backyard Book series(Kingfisher) from the library. They all begin with the same title, "Are you a ___ ?" These are very cute engaging stories of the life cycles of particular insects and bugs - clearly written and to the point with nice illustrations. My daughter was able to memorize these(restate the content) and enjoy them because they were short, made for the limited attention span of young children, and memorable. There is a snail book which is particularly cute with a mama and baby snail. All are written in the manner of speaking directly to the reader - perfect for preschoolers through Kindergarten.

Are You a Ladybug? (Backyard Books) and Are You a Butterfly? (Backyard Books)

Simple life cycle printables for the very young: ladybug and butterfly.

I'm thinking about getting a frog and praying mantis habitat. My daughter has a special interest in nature, so this has been a lot of fun for her, and me because it gives her joy.

Easy DIY Junk Wood Farm House Table

This looks like something we would make. She was able to scrounge all of the wood for free. See here for instructions.

Printable Children's Spring Stories: Excerpt from "A Little Dutch Maid of New York"/Google Books

A Little Dutch Maid of New York by Eleanor Lee, free and in public domain. To print, right click on the image of the pages and "save as'.

Two downloadable children's books about Dutch families:

Story of Little Jan the Dutch Boy

Windmills and Wooden Shoes

Young Children's Vintage Drawing Lessons: Circle, Oval, and Ellipse

What Shall We Draw, 1909: Circle, Oval, and Ellipse.

Free and in public domain. To print, right click on the image of the pages and "save as".

Saving Money at the Thrift Stores

This is a good time to check out the thrift stores; people are cleaning out their closets. We brought a load of outgrown clothes and toys to a local thrift yesterday, and decided to do some shopping as well. I was able to find some light jackets, girl's winter pajamas(for next year), new-with-tags tops(Target and The Children's Place, long sleeved for next year) for my daughter, and a few summer T-shirts and Khaki shorts for my teenage son. I spent about $45.00 for 27 items(20% off with frequent donate card).

Sometimes I find next to nothing at the thrift stores, and other times it seems I've hit the mother load. To be successful, I have to check frequently. In the end, I save quite a bit of money on clothing and household goods. This goes a long way toward creating a savings cushion and extra money for vacations.

Heralds of Spring and the Season of Lent

From my garden. These Lenten purple hyacinths come back year after year, and are so fragrant. I've made some lovely cologne spray with these simply by soaking the blossoms in some alcohol.