By Lynn, on January 28th, 2012%
Happy Saturday, dear friends! I do hope the weekend is good to us all. Today is a work day for me, but I am so grateful to be working from home and to have a job that allows me to support myself and my children. All is well.
I wanted to share with you just a couple of things. First, a little, most humble gift I made for a sweet friend in a nursing home.
It is a bunch of pressed flowers, from last year from The Wild Little Garden. I put them in the shape of a heart (never discount even individual petals that seem to be uselessly falling apart, for they allowed the heart to take shape!
I placed them in a laminating sleeve and then ran it through the laminator.
While not fancy at all, it can be handled without hurting anyone (no glass) and it is pretty hanging in a window. It will keep its color for about a year, maybe more, depending on how much sun it gets.
In fashion news, I wanted to show you one of the bright dresses I found a couple of months back at G.W. Boutique — a 4 dollar treasure! If ever I feel down, I just slip this particular dress on and I feel like a flower in a garden! You will see once again the favorite black shoes and my trademark white stockings, but look for some new shoes to be posted about soon! I found two really cute pairs today! Even now, my feet are covered in vitamin E lotion and dressed in thick socks, trying to make these 40-something-year-old feet as pretty as possible!
Thanks, mom, for taking pictures! Excuse the grainier ones. All were taken with a phone! 
Do enjoy the day! I heard a little commentary on the radio last week. The bottom line was this:
Winners are not those who never fail, but those who refuse to give up!
May we all keep trying!
By Lynn, on December 27th, 2011%
wonder (wun’der) — n. …7. the emotion excited by what is strange and surprising;
I find that a person has to have a bit of wonder in her life, or life loses luster. Just a bit of wonder will do! A bunch of bright red berries on a gray day. A snowflake melting in the palm of an ungloved hand. A smile from her sweetheart.
Sometimes wonder is all that sustains. And when wonder won’t rain down on its own, it has to be sought for and made up. Like clay mushrooms. Like treasures from the past. Like words poured out on paper.
I am proficient at spinning a cloak of wonder to throw over that which surrounds me. It’s a gift I am thankful for. Truly.
Even now, I have formed a habit when it comes to putting one step in front of the other each morning. There is a fresh, imagined wonder over what the day may bring! One of the first steps into wonderland I take each day is getting dressed.
Life is too short to dress ugly.
My dear friend Marqueta said that, and it’s a quotation I take to heart. Do I look frumpy at times? Well, of course. But I love to start the day out looking the best that I can. Every. Single. Day. It makes me very happy!
A skirt practically bounding away in pleats and tucks found its way out of the closet this morning. Layers of pink topped it off, because this morning was one of those “but I’m still tired!” mornings, and I thought the soft pink would be good for my complexion today. I wore tall black boots with the look of riding boots. One never knows. Especially since Jane Austen’s Emma has been on my mind.
A bit of hair gel ( I love Studio Line by Loreal) makes that pouf look shiny and keeps loose hairs from tickling my nose all day. Ahhh, pretty clips — just more wonder from wonderland.
And speaking of wonderland, let’s stayon the topic of all things wondrous. Shall we?
My little sweetheart daughter had the project at school of reading a book and then making a game to go with it. I think her game turned out to be absolutely and most colorfully inviting!
Just look at the little game pieces she baked from clay!
Her book, of course, was Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I think she did an amazing job. I am of the belief that this “board” should be framed and put on her wall!
More Alice! More wonder! It shall not cease!
You know that I have a fascination with little Alice anyway, as I have fashioned more than one brooch with Alice on the front…
John Tenniel’s Alice
Arthur Rackham’s Alice
A.E. Jackson’s Alice
My own rendering of Alice.
Shower of Cards by John Tenniel
Come to think of it, I am wonderfully inspired! The clay calls, the paper calls, the sparkles, the glue, the pencils, the wonder of what can be made! It all calls! In fact, I am thinking some sort of pink Alice Tree (refer to last post with pink Christmas tree) would be most fun!! January could be Alice month ’round here! Oh yay!
Everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it.
~Lewis Carroll
Here’s to finding the wonder in your own life!
Enjoy this day!
By Lynn, on August 8th, 2011%
So my local Goodwill had just another lacy shirt, tags still on it. I made it mine, brought it home and washed it.
Has sort of a peasant look, but the lace makes it more Victorian, I think. I love it. Love my trips to hunt for cast-0ff treasures.
Thank you to all of you, dear friends, who sent so many well wishes my way. One thing I did figure out, with the help of a dear friend locally, is that I have likely let my magnesium get too low again. Stress is a vicious thing. Even after my potassium came up, the palpitations continued. I told a friend who was standing next to me at a recent gathering and she said, “you need magnesium.”
It dawned on me that, yes, that was one of the things that my “special” thyroid doctor had me on, and extra of it! I feel like a deer in headlights some days. I had not been taking enough magnesium and I suddenly knew it. And did you know that low magnesium causes low potassium?
Sigh.
Onward and upward!
I was cleaning out some papers and came across some quotations to share before I throw these pages out.
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties. ~Francis Bacon
It is good even for old men to learn wisdom. ~Aeschylus
Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making. ~John Milton
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. ~Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. ~William Blake
No one can possibly know what is about to happen; it is happening each time, for the first time, for the only time. ~James Baldwin
There are big men, men of intellect, men of talent and men of action; but the great man is difficult to find, and it needs—apart from discernment—a certain greatness to find him. ~Margot Asquith
Must get back to work today. On a tiny break. I am happy for today.
Enjoy this day!
By Lynn, on February 14th, 2011%
“I love it when we do things together with the children,” I said to Mr. Carpenterman, batting my eyeslashes. So we went on a tiny little picnic over the weekend.
It was very simple, just taking a picnic basket and some egg salad sandwiches, sardines (yes, I said sardines), and other various and sundry things, like apples, sunflower seed butter, chips and crackers. Oh and some iced tea. Yes, it was beautiful and warm enough to run and play.
Four of us drove to some beautiful woods and had fun eating and walking and exploring.
Standing in front of some beech trees
While some of us climbed trees, some of us walked gracefully around and looked for identifying marks on trees and rocks and the like.
Our two youngest had fun getting out some energy. Is there anything better than the woods for what ails you?
We examined trees with odd growths on them.
There was quite the stand of broomsage, and the carpenter said he’d be sure to tell me when it’s green so that I can make a broom.
The Carpenter, who is an excellent woodsman and knows all of his trees, pointed out this and that. I told the children they had to listen carefully because they would be tested before we left to go home. We are homeschoolers after all. They laughed and ran off.
Well, not really. They listened to their daddy explain how this redbud had bloomed last year. You can tell because of the seed pods. He pointed out many a beech tree, silver and white maples, the eastern red cedar, sourwood and more. He talked about the trees like he knew them personally. I think they know him, too.
I love to see these HUGE quartz rocks!
We noticed a deer skull and wondered what had happened to the deer. It was interesting to look at the teeth. These are the molars and premolars.
An outing doesn’t have to be expensive. It doesn’t have to cost much of anything actually. This was just the cost of our brought-from-home food, and it was so much fun!
A great longing for the old days when the trees could talk in Narnia came over her. She knew exactly how each of these trees would talk if only she could wake them, and what sort of human form it would put on. She looked at a silver birch: it would have a soft, showery voice and would look like a slender girl, with hair blown all about her face, and fond of dancing. She looked at the oak: he would be a wizened, but hearty old man with frizzled beard and warts on his face and hands, and hair growing out of the warts. She looked at the beech under which she was standing. Ah!–she would be the best of all. She would be a gracious goddess, smooth and stately, the lady of the wood. Prince Caspian, The Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis
By Lynn, on February 9th, 2011%
My dear readers, I was thankful for lovely words in my mind upon getting up this morning.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there by any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Phil 4:8)
Good for copywork, I think.
Yesterday the weather here was really nice.
I took a walk in The Little Wild Garden. I admired Faithful, our dogwood, realizing that I have not journaled about her again and that I need to. Coming soon to a blog near you.
Much to my delight, there were snowdrops in bloom around the goldfish pond. Aren’t they sweet little flowers! I wandered over to see if the hellebores showed any signs of blooming. There is new growth, but no sign of a bloom yet.
The sun was so bright! The air was warm enough to turn the fountain on for the goldfish. My goldfish pond does not have a heater, so if it’s too cold (think ice) I can’t turn the pump on to run the water that climbs up through the fountain and runs back down. I do love that splashing sound.
The birdseed fills the feeder that hangs, of course, from Faithful’s branches. (Note to self: Journal soon about your dogwood. ) The birds make me happy while I’m typing.
I consoled myself (over the fact that here it is cold February, which sometimes can get a person down) knowing that there will soon be daffodils in bloom in The Little Wild Garden. The little neighbor girls will ask if they can have one.
I’ll say, “Yes, take two.”
They’ll make us all very happy.
Finally, friends, it is quite the chore keeping enough food for a crowd. Remind me. Is six a crowd? I thought so.
Anyway, I’ve been buying the organic broccoli that’s on sale locally and keeping it cut up for dipping in Newman’s Own Ranch Dressing (I could drink that stuff). I hate throwing out the broccoli stems, and yet they are rather tough and not as delicious as the crowns for dipping. I decided to cut them into chunks and then run them through the food processor with some sweet onion. Used in a recipe I have for broccoli quiche, with venison sausage, oh my did it turn out lovely! I went ahead and made four of them, because three boys gathered around the table can eat one whole quiche as a “snack.”
Broccoli Quiche – Meant to make one deep dish quiche
Pastry or shell for deep dish pie shell
1 to 1-1/3 cups half and half (I use 2% milk)
6 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated
4 oz swiss cheese, grated
6 eggs, beaten until frothy
1 bunch fresh broccoli — steamed and chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup chopped cooked meat (in my case, venison sausage)
Combine all ingredients. Pour into uncooked pie shell(s). Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done.
Now, I doubled this recipe, using only 12 eggs, 2-2/3 cups of milk, only cheddar cheese (no swiss)–and probably more of it than called for as far as cheese in total, and lots of venison sausage. It came out fine. I made four regular pie crust sized quiches (not four deep dish). The point is, I think this recipe can be altered quite a bit. You just need to have enough egg (and milk/moisture) to hold whatever else you’re putting in. Twelve eggs for four regular pie crusts worked out well, but I did have the added moisture of probably a cup and a half of broccoli and sweet onion for two of them.
Anyway, I am thankful today for food and the fact that I can easily walk, even, to a local fresh market and get good things.
I’m working on my goal to have 10 new things in the shop by the end of the day.
Enjoy this day.
By Lynn, on January 10th, 2011%
Dear Friends,
Are you up for a walk today? It’s very cold. Brrrrr. But I think it would clear our minds to put Annie on her leash and go out and see what lives and chirps and breathes, outside, on a cold day like today.
Our walking will be brisk, but not so much so that we can’t talk some.
Annie looks lazy. Yes, indeed. But if we say the word, “outside,” she’ll be up in a flash and wagging her tail. (Yes, that’s a picture of her sitting behind me while I work. Thanks be to Michaela.)
We really do need to fill up the bird feeders while we are outside. After all, look who visits me all day at my office window. Oh, and the water in the birdbaths is frozen too. They must have something to drink!
A little house finch.
A pair of finches!
How do they come swooping down and land just right on that thorny rose?!
A cute little black capped chickadee!
So let’s go!
I’ll leave you with a little thought. I’ll be typing today. There’s food in the crockpots for supper! We’re supposed to get ice and snow today! I am working on an amazing doll house, totally built from scraps. I can’t wait to show you! I’m listing pins in my Etsy shop. I am finally, finally tying up a package for a dear, dear friend.
If you make children happy now, you will make them happy twenty years hence by the memory of it.” ~Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856-1953)
Here’s to creating a happy, innocent, joyous childhood for our true blessings.
By Lynn, on October 8th, 2010%
I am so happy this morning. I love the thought of seeing my mom tomorrow at the farmer’s market.
Yesterday with our Five In A Row group we met at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh and saw this exhibit. We spent about three hours just soaking up information about George Washington. I was so impressed with the whole experience. I learned a lot. Princess of the Universe (which she does not like to be called) bought some parchment paper, a feather quill pen and a jar of ink and came home to write up her own little declaration. What a time we had! I forgot to take my camera, so I’ll have to “borrow” some pictures later to share.
I got up early this morning and headed out to do some shopping before school and work began. I went to the Habitat for Humanity Restore and found an awesome pine bookshelf that’s about 7 feet tall! (You can never have too many books, I like to say.)
In looking at the record albums, there were 7 beautiful sets with4 albums in each set featuring composers of different time periods. Each set contained a booklet explaining the political and social climate of the time and giving a timeline of composers which would be excellent to put on the wall with our history time line. At 1 dollar per record, I knew I really could not afford $28.00. Reluctantly, I put the albums back on the shelf. When I got to the front of the store, however, I saw a sign that said: Sale! Albums were 20 cents each! I promise I did not run through the store to get back to those albums. I got all 28 albums for $5.60. Doesn’t history class just get more and more fun?
Remember to speak with kindness and weigh every word. Once spoken, you cannot take it back.
You are master over the unspoken word, but the spoken word is master over you.
Also, anger is one letter away from danger.
Just thinking on these things this morning. I’ve been reading over and over the jewels that are found in Proverbs, and then this morning saw the quote about anger.
Enjoy this day.
By Lynn, on September 21st, 2010%
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~Plato
My mother gave me an old, old book last week at the farmer’s market. She knows that I collect old illustrations and she thought I might enjoy it. She was so right! It was published in 1898. I am hoping to take some of the illustrations and make coloring pages on my website.
There’s so much I want to do!
Anyway, just popping into say a quick hello. We’ve been busy doing school work this morning. My work schedule has changed. More on that later.
Happy Tuesday!
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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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