By Lynn, on August 26th, 2010%
First of all, in my series of posts about our school plans, has to come the planner. It hasn’t been long since I went back to carrying a large purse/planner because I just love having everything with me, all the time.
I have SO enjoyed working with my planner and getting it just right. You know how often I’m in thrift stores, and it is really fun to look through books, papers, and the bag/purse section of the store to see what I can find to enhance my planner.
The purse planner above started out as a 2-dollar cloth-covered notebook, though the actual notebook part had been taken out of it. Still, the zipper was in good shape, it had room for credit-size cards, and I liked the bright colors. As Gru says in Despicable Me, LIGHTBULB.
I knew my notebook would fit right in and I imagined using something to make a strap and maybe adding a purse part to the planner somehow. Basically, visions of glue sticks danced in my head.
I ended up finding two belts in complimentary colors in Goodwill, and a small satiny purse planner to glue to the front. (Note: fabric takes glue better and holds better than a small purse made from vinyl. I should know.) The belts are the kind that are just fabric with no holes and have the metal rings on one end, so I hooked one to the other and glued them across the “bottom” of the planner and then glued them up the sides, gluing one on one side and the other on the other side, thus ending up with an adjustable strap!
I found that the reproducible planning page provided in the Five In A Row manual was the perfect size to cut in half, hole-punch and put in the planner. I made copies, front and back for 8-10 weeks of lesson planning.
Since I work at home three days a week, I love having everything with me in my purse planner, all the time, so when I’m out shopping or running errands, if I think of something to write down for school, I can do it immediately and not have to re-write when I get home. When you are working and homeschooling, every minute counts.
I made pretty dividers by using pictures from old magazines that inspired me, laminating them and hole-punching them.
The small notebook you see me holding to the left holds weeks worth of lessons once they are done. I keep the pages in my purse/planner until the week is over and then transfer them to the notebook that will be a permanent record of what we did. (I do realize that a purse planner can’t reasonably hold a year’s worth of lessons all at one time. ) The goal is to keep our current eight weeks of study in the planner at all times. More about that in the next post or two.
The planner has sections for shopping, routines, school, to-do, addresses, etc. It also holds one or two things that I just love to read over and over because it helps me stay on track.
So there you have it: The Planner.
It makes sense to me and it works for me. And now I’m always on the look-out for cool paper that I can hole-punch and use in my planner binder. Or cloth-covered notebooks that can be turned into a purse planner with cool belts. Stay tuned.
PS – This planner is indeed 5-1/2 x 8-1/2. I am adding some more pictures to help explain how I did this. Now I’m looking for fabric-covered notebooks everywhere I go so I can make another one!
Important to note that one strap is glued on one side and the other strap on the other side, for balance.
By Lynn, on August 9th, 2010%
I know I said that I knew I didn’t fall off the earth, but maybe I did. Maybe I did fall off the earth. I’m wondering if maybe I should have stayed gone. And yet wondering why it took me so long to get back. Those of you who are so busy you feel like you are meeting yourself coming and going will know what I mean. The rest of you: congratulations.
Annie can vouch for me that I’ve been extremely-crazy-busy lately, with barely time to cook. And the carpenter can vouch for the cooking part. As you know, Annie sits with me when I type all day, and then when I’m gone, as the carpenter says, “her world turns upsidedown.” She’s been upsidedown a lot lately.
The school year is approaching and there are things I want done before the school year arrives. This past week I had a huge personal-household-tax-related-yucky-business-matter to work on. That’s all I’ll say, but realize that over the past two weeks it has consumed HOURS of my time. I’ll just be glad when it’s over. I’ve also gotten a yearly physical (not that anyone needs to know that) and, dare I say it, a colonoscopy. I joked about sharing the colon pictures on here, but I guess no one would ever come back and I could just shut the blog down completely. (My children didn’t speak to me for a few hours after I returned home from the appointment with my colonoscopy pictures.)
Annie, on the other hand, does not care how gross the hepatic flexure looks on paper. She still loves me. Thank goodness for that.
I’ve also been busy with bun-buns. We have eight now that I suppose we’ll have to keep for awhile. When it was time to sell the last litter to the pet store, someone beat us to it and the pet store had all they could sell and then some. So here we are. The phone rang the other day and when I answered my sister jokingly said, “Uh, yes, is this the petting zoo?”
I don’t like for the bunnies to be always in cages, getting little exercise, so I’m creating some places for them to run and enjoy eating violets and clover and laying in the grass. Coco is first to enjoy one of the timeshares I’ve set up in the yard. She is totally loving it. I hope that when the fruit of my loins numbers in the dozens, someone will make a place for me to run and jump, too.
I accidentally let a rabbit get loose last week and you know where it headed, right? Yeah, over to Mr. and Mrs. Perfect Vegetable Garden’s house where it plopped down in a flower bed and began voraciously ripping foliage from some things in bloom. I didn’t see it right away, but my oldest son, who’s tearing apart yet another engine in the yard, came inside and said, “Mom, there’s a huge black bunny in the neighbor’s yard and it doesn’t run off when you walk toward it. I think it’s one of ours. Did you let one go?”
Goodness gracious, deja vu, here we go again. By the time I got to the neighbor’s yard, Midnight was carrying out the aforementioned voracious eating spree. I shook some lamb’s quarters at her and caught her pretty easily. Thank goodness for little miracles.
On the gardening front, there is only one path down which one can safely walk these days. I’ve set up buckets of machetes at the entry ways of the other paths, just in case anyone feels inclined to cut their way into the garden to look at creatures with me.
I don’t know, it just feels like time is going by faster these days. Or am I losing my mind?
I had to put this picture in (above) because I just love the bright green fern you can see in the background and how it contrasts with the dark spider legs but sort of dances with the bright yellow on the spider’s back.
I’ve also been busy (and delightfully enchanted) with the farmer’s market. I love the time with my mom. I also enjoy meeting new people and seeing now-familiar faces. I have quite an inventory of pins building up and a few dolls to choose from, so I think it’s going well. The little doll house was a hit with the children and with a few adults as well! We were asked it if was for sale, but I made it especially for my mom, so maybe I can make one or two more in the future to sell. We’ll see. It was so much fun to make, but I realize I’m already at my limit as far as things to do. At any rate, don’t my mom’s little clothespin dolls look so sweet in their new home?
Finally (and I’m not sure why this picture is so faded on one end) I’ve slightly rearranged my living room (uh-gain). I had to. I found an extremely sturdy, real-wood bookcase at Goodwill. Upon being put in its new place in my “pink room,” it was immediately filled with books. I asked my husband, “Can you believe there were this many books floating around the house without a home?”
Without giving it a moment’s thought, he said, “Yeah!”
Hmmmm. I say one can never have too many books.
I have to work today, so I better close for now. I hope that my weeks can begin to slow down a bit now and I can focus on school and getting everything ready for that.
Enjoy this day!
By admin, on April 27th, 2010%
Okay, dear readers. CouponChief.com invited me to peruse their vast supply of coupons in April 2010 and write a review. On first view of the site, I was skeptical. Why, you ask? Because I went straight to the site and typed in “food” and did not get what I wanted, which was fabulous coupons for milk and bread and teabags. But I decided to try and get past my desire for dollar-off food coupons and see what the site was really about. 
I’m glad I did.
Coupon Chief is a site with many, many, many coupon codes. I think at this point we all understand what coupon codes are, but for anyone who does not, Coupon Chief’s how it works sections explains: ”Most online retailers now include a field to enter a promotional or coupon code during the checkout process.”
Do I use coupon codes on line? Yes, I do. But for me, coupon codes have been limited to books for our homeschooling endeavors, such as Amazon codes or Barnes and Nobles codes, and what I would do is perform a Google search to randomly find a code that would work. Apparently, Coupon Chief seeks to keep all the codes in one place, so I set out to prove it, right or wrong. 
You know what I did first, right? I checked for Barnes and Noble codes and Amazon codes. They were there.
Then, I looked for other things that I might actually be interested in.
On the front page, I noted there were tags you could search from. Hmmm. Dresses. Everyone knows I’m a dresses girl. So I clicked on dresses.
Right away there were oodles of pages of coupon codes that were well organized into easy clicks, straight to various stores. Of course there were some stores I would not buy from, but I did get tempted to look at some stores I’d never heard of. One was C&C California. Would I be a regular C&C California shopper? No. But with a good coupon code plus the sale that C&C California was having on their website, I can see myself possibly purchasing an item spontaneously.
I loved that I could see feedback on the coupon codes to let me know the coupon had worked for someone else. Or in some cases that a coupon had not worked.
One store I do like (usually) is Ann Taylor Loft, and Coupon Chief had a really good, 40% off Ann Taylor Loft coupon for that store. While there are not any dresses or skirts on Ann Taylor Loft that appeal to me at the moment (too short), I definitely could see myself using a 40% off coupon there to buy a sale item if it was something I needed.
You know me. Hardheaded. I just couldn’t get the food thingy off my mind, so I punched in food again. It pulled up a link called “foodsmart” that then took me to a store tag called Footsmart, as in shoes. I’m not sure I understand that, but underneath the Footsmart tag was Peapod, apparently some type of on-line grocery shopping and delivery service, which I would not use, but I could see why some people might love that. I did NOT investigate Peapod, as I was not a member and did not want to become one.
What else could I type in? Ooooo, garden. I came up with Garden.com. Once again, Garden.com is a store I had never really looked at, but just look at these cute garden clogs! And check out their gazing globes.
In the end, my favorite way to search is by stores. If I wanted to find a coupon quickly, that’s what I’d do. And actually I noticed right away that they had AC Moore coupons. Cool.
If you’re still with me, thanks for reading. In reality, I will be marking this site and using it to search for codes. Actually, I was quite impressed with Coupon Chief. To me, it’s better than a Google search that brings of 1000s of sites unknown to me where I have to deal with popups, etc. Coupon Chief has the advantage of user feedback.
By admin, on February 16th, 2010%
Life’s treasures are really the sweet, simple things. Like a little girl’s face when she finds what she’s been looking for for months, with fingers crossed, hoping and wishing for a typewriter.
Goodwill. 19.00. Owner’s manual and extra ribbons included. Works like a dream.
It’s things like her daddy’s face when he read the birthday card she hand made, of course using the typewriter to type in the messages before decorating it.
Life is all about these things. Smiles. Relationships. Doing for others. Making do and waiting for just the right things. It’s not easy as the world spins faster and faster on to the next new thing.
Proverbs 31 has been good for me lately, to help me focus on my homelife.
By admin, on February 6th, 2010%
Hasn’t it been fun? Well, it has for me, sharing fun thrift store finds and reading all of your very kind comments! Today will be the last day, and tomorrow a day of rest from this fashion adventure.
Can you tell whose baby Annie really is? I love this little puppy, in spite of her, uh, inability to understand that her bathroom is OUTSIDE. We will get it straight one day, though.
I love the dress pictured above because of the corset-type tie in the front, and there is a repeated exact tie on the back. Oh, I do love it.
Dress 4.00
I am closing with just one picture showing the beautiful detail of one of my current favorites, because I think beauty is in the details. We fall in love with people as we find out their little ways and peculiarities — their details. Much of interior design is in the details. There are detail shops for cars.
When I go out shopping, I shop for things that make me happy and that I can make a connection with. I also shop for functional things, obviously, because I’m buying clothes, but if I have to choose between a drab gray overcoat and a soft pink one with a pretty charm hanging from the zipper tab, guess what?
Thank you all so much for having fun with me this week!
Today’s a work day. It’s snowing here today. Again. I told Thomas spring was right around the corner. ”Six weeks,” I said.
“Where’d you get that idea?” he asked.
I was picturing the little groundhog and knowing that he had seen his shadow.
Thomas interrupted my beautiful thoughts and said, “You know they’re comparing this winter to only two others like it over the last 100 years. This winter’s gonna go slam through March.”
Was he kidding?
Oh well.
PS - Tanya, just for you…
It does have a great twirl effect!
And Ginger, the skirt yesterday is 100% polyester. I checked this morning.
By admin, on February 5th, 2010%
Delight in Disorder
by Robert Herrick
A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness:
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction–
An erring lace, which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher–
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribbands to flow confusedly–
A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat–
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility–
Do more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part.
I asked my husband one time if he thought I was odd and he said, “You are pleasantly eccentric.” I had a grandmother who loved hats, scarves, and leopard prints and all sorts of unusual articles of clothing. I remember when she would come and visit, we always waited in anticipation, wondering what she would have on. Actually, I sort of love leopard print too, but it has to be just the right thing for me to wear it. Fair skin and freckles somehow don’t always look great in leopard print.
I love pairing two very lacy tops together. Having a little bit of lace show through at a collar or neckline or waist is pretty to me, though too much is, well, too much.
The skirt has a story. I bought this skirt probably 10 years ago secondhand. A few years later I was cleaning out to donate some things to a yard sale and my mother saw that skirt in the bag. She knew I had really loved it and would probably miss it one day, so she pulled it out without telling me and put it up. She pulled it out again about two years ago and said, “Remember this?” It was like finding that skirt all over again. I thanked her for saving this pretty skirt for me. It’s got two layers to it, has a beautiful floral print and hangs oh so pretty.
Brown lace top – $3.00
Lacy under-layer shirt – $3.00
Twirly skirt – $3.00
Black tights – $1.00
Sam and Libby boots – $5.00
Apron? The first one I ever made, about 25 years ago, out of fabric bought really cheap at a textile factory I was working at.
Have a beautiful Friday. Here’s to a job at home, hot tea, and God’s beautiful creation just on the other side of the window pane.
By admin, on February 4th, 2010%
Oh, the week is flying by! Tomorrow I’ll be at my work desk, but we won’t think of that today! No.
What we will think about is making the most of each day. As I post this fun and sort of frivolous week of fashion, I am not unaware that there is great suffering around the world, and many would love to have any new clothes right now, let alone a large selection purchased at good prices.
So, we must do what we can to help others and we must be all we can in our places. I fully believe also in Tasha Tudor’s saying that we must “take joy.”
I would like to thank my photographer, Michaela, for setting the camera on burst and then getting me to twirl, which I’m not very good at, by the way. I reminded myself of one of those little twirlers in a jewelry box when the wire has gone awry and she spins off balance.
Black velvety dress – $4.00
Black tights – $1.00
Black Wal-Mart Mary Janes – $9.00
Finally, the apron was a splurge and was $20.00, more than the rest of the outfit combined, but there’s a story behind it. I bought it locally, it is handmade and supports someone who crafts and makes things and sells them, and I think that is worthwhile. So there.
Besides, everyone needs a pretty apron to wear while cooking and cleaning.
Happy Thursday!
By admin, on February 3rd, 2010%
Welcome back to the fashion show! (That was really fun saying that.)
You get to see one of my current favorite shirts and my cluttered kitchen counter all at the same time! What a day!
Once again I am layering shirts, which is a useful thing to be able to do since I’m so cold-natured. The skirt for the day is really shiny and crinkly. I should have gotten a closer picture of the skirt because the hem is trimmed in lace. It’s really pretty with black boots. I found it in a store called Rave, in the mall, on a clearance rack for for 5 dollars. Most things in stores like that don’t work out for me because everything, uh, doesn’t have enough fabric in it, but this skirt and one just like it in brown came home with me.
I thought this picture was worth putting in because you get to see the bright sun. The snow looked like it had been sprinkled with bright sparkly glitter. It was so very pretty. Made me appreciate Snowflake Bentley all over again!
The greenish-teal shirt underneath is the one that I’m really enjoying right now. The brand is Stamp 10. I love how the blue in the pin brings out the blue tone in the shirt. The black shirt I love too, because of the lace in the V neck. It’s Chaus Organic and looked like it had never been touched when I bought it at Goodwill.
Once again, I’m covered in shawls. The red plaid shawl was my one new shawl purchase this year. I’ll try really hard not to buy another one until the big after-winter sales next year.
Total cost:
twirly skirt – 5.00
black shirt – 3.00
blue-green shirt – 3.00
black tights – 1.00
red shawl – 25.00
By admin, on February 2nd, 2010%
Time for another feminine and frugal dress day. Thank you for all of your comments yesterday! That was fun! I feel funny posting pictures all week of just ME ME ME, but it is so much fun to share things like shopping, and I LOVE seeing what others do about dresses and such, so I guess it’s all okay. Forgive me if you’ve had too much ME by the end of the week.
No, the snow has not melted already. These pictures were taken before the snow fell, in anticipation of posting my feminine and frugal dress week.
I really love this new skirt. I bought it secondhand but it still had the tags on it.
One of my favorite, favorite black wraps. As you can see it has a pretty design woven into it in gray, but the overall color comes off as black. I bought it new at Marshall’s about three years ago.
As usual, there’s a pin somewhere.
I mentioned yesterday that I am not much for labels. What I meant was that when I shop, which is often secondhand, I don’t just scour the stores looking for good labels. I look for things that make me happy. If it’s a big-name label, then it’s all that much better, but if it’s not, well that was not what I was looking for in the first place, though I do look for quality.
The blouse is just covered in girly-girl buttons and shiny adornments, so it’s so ME.
Total Cost:
bright pink and white rayon skirt – 3.00
soft, lacy 3/4 length sleeve shirt – 3.00
frilly blouse – 3.00
pink tights - 1.00
Wal-Mart mary janes - 9.00
pin – homemade
wrap – 20.00
Of course I had to take a couple of pretty garden pictures for you.
Little patterns of what once was — asters make a pretty silhouette against the snow.
Garlic chives.
I hope you have a lovely Tuesday. By the way, I hit 1001 posts this morning! Yaaaay!
By Lynn, on January 25th, 2010%
It’s been about a month ago that I found this book, The Quiltmaker’s Gift, at the thrift store.
Placed in a large stack of yet-to-be-read books, I actually forgot that I had it, until last week. I’m surprised at myself over this, because as soon as I saw it I was in love with the illustrations and couldn’t wait to read the story.
It also made me think of my sister, who is an amazing quilter. I mean. I’m always telling her that she should sell her quilts, and she says she likes to make them for people she loves and give them away. It’s really something.
Imagine my surprise, then, when Michaela and I began to read this story and found it to be about a beautiful, talented quiltmaker who will not sell her quilts. She will only give them to the poor. The quiltmaker is a lovely woman. Her face is soft and gentle, but she is obviously a very strong woman. It was a fabulous story and I thought of my sister through every word. Which brings me to something I’ve been wanting to show you.
At Christmastime, I received a large box marked to “The Wilsons.” The beautiful heart-covered quilt was in it. From my sister. Just look!
Some of the fabric has little paper dolls on it. And the hearts! How does she do it? I cannot imagine. She and I are so much alike, and yet we are so different. She can do this. I cannot. It has always been like we walk to the same beat, but on two different paths. However far apart we are, we are always close together. I look at the squares and appreciate every single stitch.
So many memories…
By the way, the website to The Quiltmaker’s Gift was given in the book and is supposed to have games, stories of compassion, etc. Michaela will be looking at it for school today.
On a final note, my little old man pin found a name. Algernon. Thank you, Audrey! It’s the perfect name. And into the shop this weekend went Old Man Mushroom and his baby.
It’s a work day for me today and I must get busy! Have a lovely Monday.
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About Lynn
I am a 40-something-year-old mother of four delightful children, have been married for 22 years to my carpenter husband, and live in a 1921 farm-style house. I find the most joy in my garden, growing and harvesting herbs and flowers and caring for our pet rabbits.
I have a 21-year-old son, a 19-year-old son, a 16-year-old son, and a bright and bubbly (and very funny) 11-year-old daughter who is homeschooled.
I'm a North Carolina girl and I love sharing North Carolina links and information. I'm a book lover, bird lover, gardener and aspiring herbalist. I seek no help for my thrift store addiction. I do medical transcription from home part-time.
The Players
Mom and Dad
Daniel
Big Joe
John
Princess of the Universe
Annie
Oreo
Coco
Basil
Midnight
Boomerang
A Pond of Goldfish
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
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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