Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Another Terrific Tuesday!!!



Here is a photo of my recent sweet springtime success! I planted tulips last fall and I had no idea if they were going to come up or not. Here is my very first one starting to bloom even after the chickens were snacking on it! I planted two different colors this color and a blue or blackish one (I don't remember which) so I am very excited to see my first dark colored one when they finally bloom.

Our weather is back to "normal" for this time of year but it's so nice because I just love going through all the different seasons we have up here in the great lakes region. It was really odd to have 70's and 80's for just over two weeks straight but it was very enjoyable with cookouts and all but its nice to get back to normal spring weather too! 

My rummage sale was semi-successful which I am thankful for but I will not have another rummage sale any time soon. It was very tiring even with all the help I had with the kids! I am still recovering from the fatigue of the last weekend. I have been giving away the remaining items I had and whatever my friends and family can't use will get donated so someone else can use it. Now that I de-cluttered the house it has been a lot easier and simple to pick up in the evening and I just have to do a little bit more organizing and then all I will have to do is maintain the house instead of constantly organizing and re organizing. I will never again own that much clutter to have my own huge yard sale. It feels so refreshing being almost done with organizing the house. Like a breath of fresh spring air! 

Well since today is a very blustery day it's a perfect day to curl up with a blanket and read a book! Right now I am reading a book on the gardening history of my state. It's like walking back in time and learning what grew well in this area without the help of GM seeds. I'm hoping to get a better grasp on what will grow well for me and the whole 'why' and 'how' of it so I can continue saving seeds.

I'm really fortunate that someone did such extensive research on gardening here so I can read it and learn while also learning more on local history!!!

So there you have another Terrific Tuesday here in my part of the country!
~KT~

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

No complaints on the weather here!


This is a picture of baby's first time outside not all bundled up! At 4.5 months old this is also her very first time in a stroller instead of a baby carrier! She had a good time. The kids have loved this unseasonably warm weather. High 70s and low 80's all last week and all this week thus far. It will get cooler, like in the 60's but that is still 10-15 degrees higher than our "normal". There has been nothing normal about this weather, ever since last autumn! Who knew mosquitoes in Wisconsin would come out in full force in March! This has all been a really neat adventure for sure! On the downside of things our "spring" things have kind of come and gone already. The pussy willows bloomed for just a day, tops of two days. I was sad as I usually like to trim some branches and make a neat arrangement for the table. Hey, there is always next year! The grass is catching up to the spring flower plants which are just forming their flower buds! I am very excited to be able to see the tulips bloom that I planted last fall! 

This weekend we are going to have a rummage sale, it is our first and possibly our last! I hope and pray I can do well with it because I sure have put in a lot of work to it so far. On the plus side our house is nice and orderly without clutter now! I love it! 

I do miss our chickens a lot. I'm thankful one chicken couldn't get caught and if the coyotes get her I will really miss her a lot. It's my Golden Laced Wyandotte! What a gorgeous bird. God sure knew what He was doing when he created the earth and all that is within it! Gorgeous! 

Well time to get off the computer, finish my coffee and continue on with rummage sale preparations!
All creatures big and small. . . 
~KT~

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Simplification Saturday

I decided to make sure I do at least one thing to simplify my life on each Saturday. While I was working on rummage sale things I stopped and looked at all I had accumulated for my upcoming rummage sale. Of all the stuff that I am getting out of my hair (which is quite a bit!) I still have much more I could technically do with out.

I started thinking more about the simplification process as I was watching historical documentaries on the US and some European countries.

I find it quite interesting that people appeared much happier though they had much less. Much less money, things, technology but by having less, they also had much more. More family time, more productive time (vs today's hamster wheel workforce). . . I find another thing quite interesting that because they had more work they had less crime. Maybe people were too tired to commit crimes? Oh sure, there were always criminals but a lot less of them than nowadays.

Maybe in our land of excess it has produced these "problems" that we are now trying to fix? Educating kids more won't fix the crime rate. People back then were hardly educated but they sure knew the meaning of a dollar. . .

Well I just find that all interesting so now off to continue simplifying my life and getting rid of the excess so I can enjoy what I have more fully and I won't be wasting my precious time constantly picking up these excess things so I can instead spend that time doing something productive with my kids!

Sometimes having less is having more.
~KT~

Stopping to smell the flowers!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

You Turkey, it's spring out now!

We went from warm weather to normal march weather to weather in the 60's out! Yesterday I had about 30 turkeys in my yard meandering around pecking up lost seeds from the birds dropping them from our feeder! It was incredible! Then I saw something I have never seen before! Five of the turkeys flew up in the two crabapple trees by the horse pasture and were eating the remaining crabapples! It was so neat I took a few pictures but I have been unable to upload them to my computer. As soon as I can I will be sharing them. Until then here is a little  view of spring to share!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Forewarned is Forearmed: Veggies Owned by Monsanto

Forewarned is Forearmed: Veggies Owned by Monsanto

I am so glad I came across this blog, this is really important information to know!

Daily Learning

The last two weeks I have been "teaching" the kids colors, shapes, alphabet and numbers. We are concentrating on one of each for the entire week. This week we are on letter C, color Yellow and number 3 and square is our shape of the week.

I decided to do this more of an "immersion" instead of forcing them to "get it right" by the end of the week and two weeks is too long on the same thing for me and the kids as by the end of the week it is getting kind of boring and the kids like to get their new paper at the beginning of the week!

I am very surprised at the amount my son at 21 months old can and has retained! He never ceases to amaze me at his brilliance. Both kids really. I am surprised at my 32 month old daughter because I will start to show her something and she already knows it and shows me! haha! Great surprises! People really don't give kids enough credit for what they can learn at young ages. I have been letting them listen to different languages using Baby Einstein Language Nursery and some lullaby around the world dvd things I found too so it's only a matter of time before I start doing 2nd language things with them too.

So far, for simplicities' sake I have been taking a long piece of construction paper, folding in half, cutting along the fold in order to get two sheets then with black marker drawing a bubble letter on top then a number on the bottom and that is their little sheet for the week. The color paper is the color of the week as well. As for shapes I found stickers that I give them and also point out shapes in different books as I read them books every day too. I also found some really cute animal stickers with different shapes, colors and obviously animals that I give the kids each day that they stick on their little weekly papers. For example: one of the stickers last week (color green, letter B number 2 and circle shape) was a big circle photo sticker of two horses running in a field. So this sticker just was perfect it had TWO horses running in GREEN grass!!

I have the kids trace the numbers and letters and draw whatever shape we are doing and overall it's a lot of fun to do with them, keeps them busy, helps them learn and if they don't have it down perfect that is okay- it's so early for academics so this immersion thing is mostly for fun but also to help them later on in their school years.

The kids love helping me back things and cook "EH" (eggs) for breakfast and "K-cakes" (pancakes- oh the kids love pancakes!) They like to lick off the powdered sugar I put on the pancakes then they finally eat the pancakes. Oh kids are so cute!

I love my kids and they are just growing up so fast! Take time to spend with your kids because time won't keep them kids for long!

~KT~

Friday, March 2, 2012

Made Up Make Up

Today I have been pondering the concept of "makeup". I know it goes back to the Egyptians but why do we do makeup the way we do now? Why do only women wear makeup today? Why is it when men wear makeup they are called drag queens? What if the tables were turned and the only gender to wear makeup was men and not women? What is the purpose of makeup anyways? Vanity? Insecurity? Acting? Pretending? Overconfidence?

After hearing continued story after continued story about the heavy metals in today's modern makeup (yes, even some of the so called "natural" brands have heavy metals by means of being processed) I have been rethinking my usage of makeup and why do I feel the need to put on eye shadow, eye liner and mascara when going out in public? So I asked myself a few questions today and then proceeded to leave the house sans makeup.

Am I trying to be someone else? Nope.
Am I trying to pretend to be something or someone I am not? Nope.
Do I need this on to be beautiful? Nope.
Am I ugly if I don't wear makeup? I hope not and personally does it really matter to anyone other than my husband?!
Am I wearing makeup to make other people like me? Nope. It doesn't matter what you do, some people will never like you so why bother trying to make people like you that probably wouldn't like you anyway.
Am I trying to "fit in"? Hmm. maybe. Not everyone wears make up.

Then my last question I asked myself: Why DO I wear makeup? The answer: I have no idea. All I know is that when I don't wear my mascara I feel naked. Strange. I wasn't born with it so it must not be essential? Is it just propaganda from the producers telling me I need to wear makeup? Since when did the status quo of "normal" people become having to spend $10 on a tube of mascara, $7-$10 on eye liner and $6 per color of eye shadow?!?!?! Really people?! Really?! When? Why? Who Says? 

Then I got to thinking more. If the average joe man that normally wouldn't wear makeup decided to randomly wear makeup like most women do,  well, people would think a couple different things like the following: He's gay, drag queen, goth or "kids, stay away from that man".... So why don't people have that reaction to women who wear makeup? Isn't it a little silly to put peacock colors on your eyes? Isn't that a tad clownish looking? Excessive? Does the Emperor have clothes?

Smokey eye? I mean, really? At least the Egyptians had kohl down to an art on their liner. Albeit on the bottom lid but still at least they didn't look like that had black eyes from either being punched or hung over. Nothing sexy about looking like you had a drunken weekend. Gross.

Okay, back on task here. Don't get me wrong. I like wearing my eye makeup until lately since I have been seeing more pictures of me and it looks like I'm not wearing any makeup anyways. Now, either you could say I have the art of makeup down pat so I look natural or that I naturally do NOT need it. I'm going to lay off the makeup laden with heavy metals and save that for church. But isn't that a little crazy? Why would I even want to put heavy metals on my skin anyways? I certainly wouldn't want to eat food laden with them then how is it different than patting, brushing, painting, drawing with them and putting it on my skin? 

Skin. Our bodies largest organ. Kind of funny how many chemicals we put on it every day thinking we are doing our skin a favor but instead we are smoothing heavy metal laden "beauty" products on it.

I'm not against beauty products or makeup but the point remains. Think about what you are putting on your body and why you are doing it. Why does not wearing makeup make you weird? Who wants to be a mindless lemming following the crowd to eventual toxicity?

Not a lemming,
KT