Busy Hands Homestead

The kids and I walked through our garden this morning an snipped flowers for our first summer bouquet:  some roses, a sprig of lemon balm, parsley blossoms, bolting radishes and flowers off of what I am fairly certain are pretty, but invasive, weeds.   It sits in front of me as I trail shapes onto the cups that I threw during yesterday's nap time.  While the children sleep an apple tree moves through the seasons; carrots, beets and cabbages grow  in rows; and hens peck at scratch. Today's nap time creations. 

My kitchen is turning into a studio...  again.  Twelve tumblers in progress. 

F is for Fennel D is for Dill  E is for Endive (unfinished) N is for Nectarine W is for Watermelon (Oklahoma's state Vegetable - no joke) S is for Strawberries

Ivory is four.   She is somewhere in the nebulous realm of  needing an afternoon nap and stubbornly staying awake.  By four thirty or five in the afternoon, she acts like a monster.  She is a block throwing, screaming, crying, supper tired child which no reasonable speaking, pleading, bargaining, or threatening seams curtail.  And then I act like a monster.  Night time books are taken away, toys are confiscated and, yes, I find myself screaming.  We both hit a wall and the only place to go is to bed, but we still have to make it through dinner and picking up toys and getting ready for bed before that can be realized. So in the footsteps of my mother (who made beautiful water color and pen and ink chore charts for my siblings and I)  and many other mothers I have created my version of a chore chart.  Here is my attempt at a solution:   Chores: The Game Please excuse the slightly bl...

I have to admit that one of the most frustrating aspects of having purchased a house that requires an immense amount of work, is that while I am capable of performing the tasks, I am most often in the company of two little children and that negates my skills entirely. So, I have to admit that Adam has almost single handedly been transforming our bedrooms from this: to this: I have been keeping kids busy and at times out of the house with trips to the library and the park. This weekend, while the sander whirred away upstairs.  Sylvan and Ivory ran around the yard while I tackled the pile of onions I had pulled out of the ground to cure a few days earlier.  This is the first time I have grown this many onions and I am excited to have at least a few to store for later use! I made onion braids! so, this is what you need to make onion braids: Cotton Yarn  onions with dried leaves I three pieces of cotton str...

The Beginning: Canvas 1: Canvas 2: Canvas 3:  Back to Canvas 2 with a broom for a paintbrush: The End!

It is official. I clicked my pen, wrote my check, tore of the payment stub and sent our first payment to our mortgage company.  We are homeowners. We purchased, a little old "farm house" in the northside neighborhood of Missoula.   The front part of the house was built in 1900 (?) , and predates indoor plumbing.  The kitchen addition was added around 1913 (?) (based on a milk delivery slip the previous owner found in the wall during his remodel), and the existing plumbing is an obvious after thought. I nabbed this picture from the county assessor who came by a few days ago. It has faded and yellowed.  To my disappointment, she had no idea when it was taken. "As a mater of fact", she said, "you can have this picture.  I'm just going to throw it away."  The house looks almost identical today. The bathroom window is a different shape, a dormer was added in one of the upstairs bedroom, the garage and that second building beh...