Shotsnaps

Fine China Veneer

I love it when people comment on Annika's loveliness; I do.

But that's only because I know what brews just below the surface.

I do believe there is a bathmat appropriate to every occasion.

This one's my favorite so far. I've owed my mom a birthday bathmat for a couple of years, but it wasn't until this year that I actually made it. She looks forward to spring in each of the other three seasons, so a bird on a cherry branch was in order.

There's Also a Potholder for Every Occasion

I planned to make a matching set for my sister-in-law, who's fond of snowmen, but then I offended the machine.

Another Frugal Fancy-Pants, But Only Because You Love Them

Why, yes, I am making up for lost time by giving another installment of Frugal Fancy-pants. (Note-- I did not write that I was redeeming the time, which would be a far better choice.)

Let's go!

Wear this outfit (c'mon now, you know this already) TO CHURCH, or, if you actually go places other than church, please feel free to wear it elsewhere, with my regards.

-Patent leather ballet flats (hidden here, sorry): rummage bag sale. Cost: about 10 cents

-Wacky polyester skirt from the 60's: rummage bag sale. Cost: about 10 cents

-Polyester dress: purchased from my chum Elizabeth's yard sale before she and Fred married each other. Cost: I can't remember, but I bet it was under a dollar because, as I mentioned, she's my chum.

-Braided belt: rummage bag sale. Cost: under 5 cents

Optional accessories:

- Dangly, vintage earrings: rummage bag sale. Cost: about a penny

-The famous 2-minute hairdo that I used for my entire junior year of high school: Cost-- 2 minutes of your time and a few bobby pins

-Awkward hair-arranging pose: my own invention. Cost: free and plentiful, because I'm awkward

Total cost of outfit: about $1.25

Exhibit B:

Because the unheated upstairs routinely gets below freezing and the downstairs is set to 55 degrees, wear this outfit every day of your blessed life during winter months. (If you wish, you may replace it with bear skins when bathrobe-washing is unavoidable.)

Hat: leftover from college days; purchased from a rummage sale. Cost: under 5 cents

Tank top: hand-me-down

Long-sleeved t-shirt: rummage sale. Cost: about 5 cents

Wool sweater: rummage sale. Cost: about 10 cents

Green sweater: rummage sale. Cost: about 10 cents

Bathrobe: a Christmas gift from my mom-in-law who may have been horrified by the state of my old green one.

Land's End jeans: rummage sale. Cost: about 10 cents

Socks: hand-me-down

Gloves: stolen from my Husby; Cost and origin unknown.

Slippers: Christmas gift, again from my thoughtful mom-in-law

Optional accessories: a red nose, because the upstairs air is nippy

Total cost of outfit: about 40 cents

Side by side:

Tea for Two

Sometimes Piper hosts tea parties while the other girls are deep in hlearning.

She may look a little lonely, but there's always good company underfoot.

Kind-of-Crafty

Don't worry; I won't post every last thing we do as we hlearn, but I thought this project was cool. I'm not a great crafty-mom and prefer to let the girls make crafts on their own instead of doing organized crafts all the time (like they'd prefer), but art projects like this are kind of crafty, right? Can't they count for something?

We didn't have any of the "required" materials, so we scrounged around for household substitutes, and even though the final result probably suffered from this scrounging, I still love how they turned out.

Pip's was my absolute favorite, and I couldn't bear to take it down when the girls replaced their prints with fresh paintings, so it hangs still. (In case you're baffled, it's a little princess.)

I Already Told You

...about Pip's encounter with the staircase. Thanks to an hours-long wait at the hospital, here are accompanying snapshots, without the gross close-up (which I stooped to taking but will refrain from posting).

What has entranced her here?

I'll give you one guess.

Bored and boring.

Pip took these artistic images of her surroundings, sometime about the third hour in.

The actual stitching up was a little traumatic because the surgeon walked in, looked at quiet, calm, stoic Pip, and promptly had the nurses bind her completely from head to toe. Then he covered her head with a towel before proceeding to give local anesthetic and stitch her up. She whimpered more from the stifling heat and inability to move a muscle than from the pain...and then she fell asleep.

A week later, he removed the stitches, and as a reward, she got a dollar burger from McDonald's. It was almost worth the straitjacket.

Frog Belly After Church

Sugar-Bush-It-Old-School 2013

I know it's time to tap the trees when the wagon rolls down stones instead of snow. (Having children is better than using The Old Farmer's Almanac.)

I only offer a few pictures this year. If you're dying for the full report, just search shotsnaps for "Sugar Bush," and you can read all about it. This year was identical to last year, except Zeke's outside my belly instead of inside of it, plus, I used a proper hammer to pound in the spiles instead of a can of black beans. Progress!

Here are the first sips of cold, sweet sap.

And then we were done. I told Annie to come down from her perch and scurried back inside to the napping Lu and Zeke.

The End.

I Could Eat the Whole Earth in Just One Bite

Sorry for another h'learning post; I can't help myself. The week we learned about the Earth's atmosphere and layers, we followed making clay models with making an edible version from leftover birthday fondant and Christmas candy.

Annika made us all laugh with this growly chant. Aren't you glad she asked me to videotape it? (For the record, I now overhear Luci reading board books to herself like so: "Incore, ouncore , mantle, tust.")

Dancing in the Kitchen and One, Poor, Little Boy

The composer we're currently studying is Mozart, so when John called mid-day to let me know that his classical dance music was playing on the local public radio station, hlearning screeched to a halt, and an hour-long dance commenced.

After dancing for 2 minutes until I was out of breath, I left them to their own devices and didn't pay much attention until bright pink lips appeared out of nowhere and asked me to take a picture of them. My mom gave Susie a chapstick set for her birthday, but that's like no chapstick I've ever seen. Hoo, boy! Again, what would I miss if the oldest five were boys?!