Grumpy Kitty

Knitting

I’m Not an accomplished knitter; sometimes I’m not even sure if I can knit. I can cast on and knit rows, and even purl, but bind off, drop stitches, keep count, basically any REAL knitting and I’m hopeless. I’m stagnant. One of my goals this year is to work on becoming a bit more competent so that when Butter is ready I will be able to assist her. I just don’t get things that require my fingers to twist and think on their own uh hum…like typing,etc.

 Last Fall I bought a knitting mushroom thingy for Butter to use this winter when we were stuck in the house more. She has begged on and off to be shown and frankly I put her off because I wasn’t sure how I worked. Finally I got it down and tried to figure out he I’m sure simple directions, but the plastic crochet needle and cheap yarn in the kit were not working so I pulled out a crochet needle and some of my “unknitted" yarn and set to scouring the web for better directions. I printed out several and watched several YouTube videos and well I’m still not sure if I can do it, but I will get back to it later. In the mean time, we are having fun with some finger knitting and I actually figured this out “fairly quickly “ after using the same video Jessica showed her boys.  Butter is quite pleased with herself and I’m thrilled she has better dexterity
 than I do.
 
 

 

Great Depression cooking

How cool is Clara? I love her!!

Great Depression Cooking

Frugal or Funny?

A few days ago Butter and I were doing her homeschooling in the sun room since it's a SC winter with 65 degree temps. Anyho, the laundry room is right next to us and we both jumped when the washing machine begins to sound like it is exploding. I figure that it is just off balance so I go to adjust everything and it just stops. The little switch that is supposed to keep the agitator going has snapped off. I either need to call a repair man, buy a new machine, or rig it. Since I'm waiting for my dream machien to go down in price along with everything else in this deflationary spiral we're in and I hate to pitch anything that is still workable I try and rig it. The first thing I saw in the drawer was this um popsicle stick. It took all of 5 secnds and my $150 (we lucked out with these 8 yrs ago, they were only a yr old) washer and dryer still work.

 So I went a spent the repair money on some yummy Euro fabric on sale:) Yeah for being thrifty!

More than a Cookbook

My SIL suggested this cookbook  to me over the holidays and I just received it today.  I’m loving it! Doris Janzen Longacre was a Mennonite whose started addressing the problem of food security over 25 yrs. ago. I grew up in Indiana not terribly far from Goshen College and around the Mennonite culture, which in my experience was very generous. I love this more for what it stands for, less for the recipes which are great looking and I can’t wait to try some. She addresses our over consumption and how to prepare healthier meals with less junk. We already eat lots of whole foods, but there is always room for improvement. I can’t wait to devour this cookbook!

This prayer immediately captured much of what I’d thinking on to have the children memorize at meals. I really want them to understand what a blessing it is to live in the world we do, to eat the food that God has blessed us with. We have been working on the Our Father and even the Kitty has almost memorized it. I am ready to move them on to another prayer and this is so succinct and powerful.

O God,

    We’ve wasted                     For these sins

        we’ve complained                    Father forgive us.

             we’ve grumbled.            Help us

    We’ve misused our resources                reset our priorities     

    We’ve confused                          according to Your will.

        our needs                        Amen.

            with our wants.              

    -Norma Johnson

                                                      Lobatse, Botswana

Aspirations '09

I prefer not to make resolutions, because I always thwart my attempts at being resolute about things like weight loss or cleaning. But this year I had a few things I really want to aspire to do/learn/be.

1.  I aspire to be a less "yelly" mom. Having 3 small children is something I often don't handle so gracefully, lol. I'm asking God to guide me with this one BIGTIME. Breathe and pray.

2. I aspire to be more generous with my time/money/heart. In line with being a good example of how to navigate one's life and what we should be doing while here on earth, I want my children to learn to have a giving heart and so I must SHOW them as much as I can.

3. I apire to attend service regularly.

4. I aspire to become a gardener and preserve as much harvest as we can this year.

5. I aspire to incorporate exercise into my daily life, be that walking with the children more, gardening or swimming. I need to be more active, get my flexibility back, and tone up the baby machine!

There are many more things I want to do, but I also aspire to BE REALISTIC and not as list happy as I am wont to be. Enough is enough. I aspire to know WHEN.