By Lynn, on December 18th, 2008%
If I celebrate this time of year at all, it’s a time of giving. Trying to get away from too many things, this year I am giving gifts that can be used up, not stored away in a drawer or closet. Baskets of hand soap, lotions, foods, handmade useful gifts.
The best thing I have received by far this year was a jar of double-chocolate brownie mix. It was so lovely, all the layers of mix visible in the jar, topped with chocolate chips, and the jar tied off with bright calico fabric and a piece of twine. Princess of the Universe got a baking lesson from that gift. It was quite a useful gift and I will always remember it.
From “The Quiet Little Woman” by Louisa May Alcott:
“Patty’s surprise began early the next day for the first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was a pair of new stockings crammed full of gifts hanging at the foot of her bed and several parcels lying on the table.”
“What a good time she had opening the delightful bundles. She laughed and cried at the droll things the boys gave and the comfortable and pretty things the elders sent. Such a happy child was she that when she tried to say her prayers, she couldn’t find words beautiful enough to express her gratitude for so much kindness.”
You’d have to read the story to understand just how much Patty deserved and needed these things.
It’s a wonderful book for this time of year. We’ll be reading it again this year. The Quiet Little Woman.
Enjoy today.
Lynn
By Lynn, on December 16th, 2008%
Yes, I am done stressing about school for right now because it totally went on the back burner this week. Appointments. Shopping. Family traveling home. Get-togethers. I ask you, how can anyone do school work? It’s time for our winter break here, and I intend to enjoy it.
Is all dead in winter? I don’t think so. The withered rose blooms on my rose bushes look so pretty to me. There’s a sad sort of beauty about them: clearly dead or dying, yet with a touch of summer’s red-pink blush left. Makes me think of our lives. The brevity. The uncertainty. The beauty. The joy. We’d better enjoy one day at a time.
Oh yes. Life, I think I said. I pulled a bloom from a rose bush and this little mayfly-looking winged creature came out. I felt bad for disturbing its resting place, but it flew away, hopefully to find another rosebud.
There’s life, all the time, when we look for it.
On other, less serious note, I’d advise you to visit homemadedollhouse.blogspot.com to read about our beautiful foreign doll and her current endeavor.
It is a worthwhile project, as I feel sure you’ll agree.
Around the net: I stumbled across the most beautiful blog with the most adorable header yesterday. Just take a look. I made a screenshot because I figure that after winter this header will be gone.
You’ll have to visit Turkey Feathers yourself to see the snow falling across the header of this beautiful blog.
Enjoy this day.
Lynn
By Lynn, on December 15th, 2008%
Yesterday I looked out my front window and saw Fluffy asleep in a chair, with both of her newest kittens piled asleep on top of her. What a sweet little sight!
Usually the kitties all get up and run to the door when it’s opened, but not this time. This must have been a really, really good catnap. The little kittens did not even stir. And Fluffy only yawned really big a couple of times and then shut her eyes again.
Aren’t they sweet? And to think we weren’t going to have anymore cats. Even Hubby likes them. Outside, of course.
On a more crafty note, my sewing/craft desk is such a mess right now!
But between homemade gift tags and doll house stuff it’s bound to be!
I want to learn to make books with pages, and not just a piece of cardboard in the center. This one’s cute and of course it will go on the shelf with the others, but I must get them to lay flatter.
Oh yes, I did say Faery House, didn’t I?
Remember the shelf I took the door off of? It is slowly turning into a two-story faery house. The flash from my camera shows every wrinkle in the paper background, but it’s really not that bad, I promise. Plus there are other layers and accessories to go in. My decision is this: Should it be a one-faery home or a two-faery home? I’m thinking two. There’ll be more posted at homemadedollhouse.blogspot.com as these projects progress.
And finally, we started trying to get a picture for our 2008 Christmas cards. This one may have to do, as it’s so hard to get all the kids together at one time and have them all (semi) smiling at one time.
The children’s heights are not accurately captured in our pictures, as they are standing on a set of steps, but I’m sure you figured that out! 
Thought you might want to compare to last year.
You see I have one who just doesn’t smile as easily.
Wishing you simply Happy Holidays.
Lynn
By Lynn, on December 13th, 2008%
I must remind you. My garden is small. Sometimes it looks bigger than it really is. Sometimes, even to me who is so used to it and knows its size, it seems bigger than it is. There are so many miracles, even on a tiny patch of ground, I know that I will never learn all there is to know about even my little garden.
The birds instinctively know where to find the seeds when most of the bounty of the branch has been plucked and taken into homes and cellars. I would like to learn from the birds.
A touch of green remains here or there,
and bounces back quickly, with something to share.
Seedpods wear wigs of hoary frost.
Some thoughts on my mind this morning have been the quick passage of time. Hours easily turn to days, days to weeks, with month after month bringing a new year. More quickly that I can believe.
“Autumn to winter, winter to spring,
Spring into summer, summer to fall–
So rolls the changing year, and so we change;
Motion so swift, we know not that we move.” Dinah Mulock Craik
It’s true. Sometimes life is running so fast, and we run to keep up, we know not that we move.
But I like the thought that I ended my meditation on this morning.
“My times are in thy hand;” Psalm 31:15
Today is a work day for me, but I enjoyed a quick walk through the garden this morning, enjoying watching my breath in a fog around me. I see the plants as they are, remember what they were, and look forward to what they will be again, if time continues for me.
Even in a little patch of land, there’s a lot to learn.
Lynn
By Lynn, on December 12th, 2008%
On the menu last night:
- Cole slaw
- Mediterranean tuna salad
- Homemade apple sauce
- Whole wheat flax seed bread from my bread machine
The main thing I wanted to show you was the whole wheat flax seed bread. While searcing on line I found a very good recipe to make this in the bread machine. You can find it here: Whole Wheat Flax Seed Bread. I baked mine on the whole wheat setting and it came out very moist and soft on the inside — but with body, with a delicious crust. We were very happy with it. It’ll be really good today toasted with some of that Mediterranean tuna salad.
On a doll house note…
Princess of the Universe and I managed to put several new little treasures into the doll house yesterday. If you get a chance, you can see them at homemadedollhouse.blogspot.com.
Well, off to the work desk I go! Have a great Friday!
Lynn
By Lynn, on December 11th, 2008%
Corny, I know, but what else would one say?
I went to see my favorite aunt yesterday (and uncle) – she’s also one of my favorite people (he is too) and she gave me a bunch of eggs. She raises chickens and sells organic, free-range eggs at local farmers’ markets. She’s gathering over 100 eggs a day right now and had just a few more than she could use. I won’t be needing to buy any eggs for my holiday cooking and baking!
A bit of wire fence is obscuring a perfect view, but here are a couple of her chickens. I think they are pretty creatures.
I love the old buildings around her land. Perhaps this barn needs some work, but isn’t there something rustic and lovely about it? I can just imagine it newly-built. It must have been a fine barn.
Our trip yesterday included more than one stop. Princess of the Universe and I have been wanting to do some wall-papering in the doll house, so another trip to The Scrap Exchange was very much in order.
My couch was covered in little bits of this-and-that after we got home. Be sure and check the HomeMade DollHouse later today for update on the dolls’ home. We did come home with a beautiful roll of wall paper in our bag.
While at The Scrap Exchange I found a real treasure. I just could not believe it. Well, actually I could, because they get all manner of things there, but I was so happy at my good fortune to have been in at a time when these were not all sold out: gallery quality art posters which will turn my tall stairwell into a little museum. They were only $2.50 apiece. Some of these prints are about 48 inches tall.
I’ve flipped through the stack to get some pictures for you.
And my personal favorite: Springtime
Are they not worth every cent? My humble hallway shall be adorned with some pretty pieces of art work! Talk about an art wall!
That’s all for now. We’ve got to get busy doing our school work today and working on the doll house.
Happy Thursday.
Lynn
By Lynn, on December 10th, 2008%
“Little Mrs. Peter Rabbit, who used to be Little Miss Fuzzytail, sat at the edge of the dear Old Briar-patch, anxiously looking over toward the Green Forest. She was worried.”
“There was no doubt about it. Little Mrs. Peter was very much worried. Why didn’t Peter come home? She did wish that he would be content to stay close by the dear old Briar-patch. For her part, she couldn’t see why under the sun he wanted to go way over to the Green Forest. He was always having dreadful adventures and narrow escapes over there, and yet, in spite of all she could say, he would persist in going there.”
From The Adventures of Prickly Porky by Thornton W. Burgess.
Thus we traveled last night on another new bedtime reading adventure. We opted for something light. Something fun. Something about animals.
And while we are talking about animals, please excuse the disheveled look of old Bunny in the picture above. He has been loved by four near-grown children and has had many bold adventures himself.
If you just cannot get enough of animals with big personalities, who talk and interact with each other in their forest and prairie homes, you’ll probably enjoy this sweet little book.
There’s even a Thornton W. Burgess Society, I was pleased to discover. You will find some very pretty coloring pages at their website, information about the society, and more.
Unit-study-wise, we are following after, in a most relaxed fashion, the sword and the snowflake. What is that? you might ask.
Well, Joseph and I are beginning a study of Shakespeare and Hamlet. Though it’s been in my mind for forever, it seems, we still have not read anything by Shakespeare. It’s time. The child graduates in 2009.
Princess of the Universe and I are currently rowing Snowflake Bentley (Caldecott Medal Book) , using Five in a Row for lesson plans, of course.
I am just anxious to see how the two intersect, because I know they will.
Last of all, you might want to visit the HomeMade DollHouse to see what the dolls are up to. Picture a little general store in Vermont where the snow is piled up underneath the windows and they sell candy canes and sleds. (I love how the doll house gets tied into school.)
Wishing you a wonderful day!
Lynn
By Lynn, on December 9th, 2008%
“It’s a strange thing, but somehow we expect more of girls than of boys. It is the sisters and wives and mothers, you know, Caddie, who keep the world sweet and beautiful.”
“What a rough world it would be if there were only men and boys in it, doing things in their rough way! A woman’s task is to teach them gentleness and courtesy and love and kindness. It’s a big task, too, Caddie–harder than cutting trees or building mills or damming rivers. It takes nerve and courage and patience, but good women have those things. They have them just as much as the men who build bridges and carve roads through the wilderness. A woman’s work is something fine and noble to grow up to, and it is just as important as a man’s. But no man could ever do it so well.”
Mr. Woodlawn speaking to his daughter, Caddie, from Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink.
I don’t know if I’ve ever read of a woman’s calling described so beautifully. We finished Caddie Woodlawn last night, and it was such a lovely book. It’s a book packed full of life lessons, opportunity to discuss history–both good and bad, and tangents that one could follow to a full heart’s content building a fabulous unit study.
Happy Reading.
By Lynn, on December 8th, 2008%
This is Unit Study at its finest. If you are homeschooling, interested in unit study and Charlotte Mason and you don’t follow this blog: Smile, Wink, Nod, then you are missing a great resource.
Michele has posted a week review of their fabulous unit study of the Fire of London, the Great Plague and more. Very cool stuff. And as I told my friend Michele, I am inspired to copy.
Lynn
By Lynn, on December 7th, 2008%
I never know what a day will bring forth around here. But do any of us know? No. Life just unfolds, and we are blessed beyond measure when the day ends with everyone safe and healthy, and hopefully with a cheerful heart.
There is something very satisfying about not wasting anything. A couple of days ago I baked some sweet potatoes that were on sale for 29 cents a pound. Oh, I did stock up! The baked sweet potatoes were not all eaten, so I used what was left to make a sweet potato casserole this afternoon. It was SO good.
I have a couple more baskets of sweet potatoes in the pantry to use in the next few weeks. And I am not beyond planting them if they start to grow.
I found myself with an hour or two this afternoon to work at my sewing desk. Not too long ago I bought this shelf at a thrift store for a couple of dollars. Today I took the door off. I have a project in mind, but I’m still thinking on it, so I just put the shelf to the side. For now.
Princess of the universe got her first sewing lesson this afternoon. We were making things for the doll house and she wanted to make two little pillows for her project. I showed her how to fold the fabric right-side-in and then stitch around. She did very well!
In the meantime, I was working on my own project for the doll house, and I think it turned out very nice indeed! Even now I am posting more details over at Homemade DollHouse. You might want to pop over there soon to read about it.
A bed fit for a princess!
Lynn
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About Lynn
I am the mother of four delightful children: a 23-year-old son, a 20-year-old son, a 17-year-old son, and a bright and bubbly 13-year-old daughter. I share an apartment home with my 17-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter. My little home on the internet is called Rose Cottage because of my love for gardening, roses, and all things romantic and Victorian. Welcome.
I'm a North Carolina girl and I love sharing North Carolina links and information. I do medical transcription from home. My hobbies include making sweet little dolls from clay who are named and have their own stories to tell. I also make old-fashioned brooches. These are for sale in my Etsy shop.
For 13 years continuously, I homeschooled some or all of our four children, but the time came that our homeschool had to be closed. It was the end of a beautiful chapter in my life. I will always be a strong supporter of homeschooling and I will continue to review books and maintain my homeschool website, The Healthy Homeschool. The Players
Lil Ol' Me
Son Daniel, 23
Son, Big Joe, 20
Son, John, 17
Daughter, Michaela, 13
Annie Fatso Beagle
My Symphony
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
William Henry Channing
1810-1884
What You Do Sow a thought, reap an action.
Sow an action, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow a character, reap a destiny.
Contact Me 
I would  for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com
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