Goodwill Toward All...

I stopped frequenting second hand shops about 4 kids ago.  I realized I had enough of my own excess and didn't need to be dragging home things others had culled.  This was sad on one front as people really do get rid of some great junk!  At one point all my furniture was on its second or third life having been stripped and or reupholstered.  For a song you can even find things that still have the original sales tags.  However, the more little people I had the opportunity of introducing to the art of procuring goods for our home, the less stops I wanted to make in town.

Stops=car seat wrangling!

Also, my unattached garage was across the farmyard.  As I only have two arms, I learned the joy in the challenge of seeing how few bags with which I could come home.

Fewer bags=finding fewer new homes for the articles brought into the house.

All that being said, last Mother's Day I was surprised to find several packages from my husband.  I had been in a repurposing phase.  Having had 6 kids in 9 years I have a large size range in my clothing.  I keep them all and simply rotate.  I usually don't stay in any one size long enough to wear out or tire of them.  But after #6 I started to refashion many pieces of my wardrobe.  So, Breadwinner went on a shopping spree at Goodwill and provided me with refashioning fodder.

Fast forward to present day-  Just when I was thinking I would bite the bullet and purchase 2 new lamps for our living room I was cleaning out my closet and came upon one of the skirts I was gifted for Mother's Day.  I liked the fabric color and print but not necessarily for me to wear.  I decided it would look great in my living room with the lamps I already owned.  The lamp bases were from my Grandma's basement.  At one point half a century ago she purchased them from Ethan Allen.  They are classic.  The lamp shades I found at Goodwill for $3 a piece.  I liked that they were rectangular.  Originally they were brown as well.  I used them that way until this inspiration struck.  I got the bug the Sunday of the Daytona 500.  Breadwinner went to watch at a friend's home and the kids and I stayed home and got crafty.  Here is how the transformation went.  I didn't include pictures of the destruction that became my home as I turned a blind eye to the kids craftiness.  I would hate to stunt their creativity- or have to put down my glue gun to restore order...

1. First you must remove the old fabric cover.  This is a shade I refashioned last summer.  I didn't like how it turned out as the fabric choice was poor.  It didn't let through enough light.  Only cut through the outer layer.  Try to keep it in one piece.  It will become your template.

2.  Use a piece of chalk to trace around the old shade fabric.  I left plenty of allowance around the edge.  You will most likely need to trace the 2 halves and seam them together.  Take notice of the grain of the fabrics.  It will make a difference as they get tugged and glued.

3.  After you have sewn the 2 pieces together it would behoove you to use clothes pins and attach the fabric to the shade.  Glue a small section at a time.  If you don't use the clothes pins you will most likely glue the fabric crooked and come to the end a triangle short.  I forgot the clothes pins trick this last time.  Good thing I am used to correcting my sewing flubs...

4.  If your lamp ribs had bias tape lengths over them you can glue new bias tape to the ribs and top and bottom edges.  I didn't want to make bias tape, and I am way too frugal to buy it, so I made ruffles instead.  The skirt I refashioned my lamp with was 2 layers.  I used the outer printed layer on the main body of the lamp and the lining fabric for my ruffles.  I didn't finish the edges of my ruffles.   I simply cut pieces 2'' wide and ran a basting stitch down the middle and gathered to the desired fullness before gluing them on with a glue gun.   

After I was done with this I went back to my closet.  I found another skirt I haven't worn in awhile that I think will make some great new throw pillows...

For My Birthday...

I don't really mean to drag out my birthday for two weeks here.  I just hadn't gotten the pictures of these particular gift downloaded.  The framed quote is from my sister.  Yes, it made me cry!  My sister is wired internally with musical staff for veins, which makes the quote that much more poignant.  She often reminds me that life is to be sung out loud.  Have I ever mentioned she is from Fun Country?!  I love that about her.  


The uplifting fuschia flowers are from my older brother and his family.  According to him the flowers practically called my name as they were the boldest and brightest in the store.  I have been enjoying them now for almost two weeks and they still look fresh!


I am thankful for the encouragement of my family... 

LOVE From The Room With A View

Breadwinner declared his love for all to see this Valentines Day.  Along the driveway he wrote, "This snow may melt away but my love for you never will."

Sure enough with the warm weather this week my Valentine message is gone.  By the time I took this photo Sunday morning the romantic regards written on the hill in the field across the road were already but a heart warming memory.  Weather report this week is calling for more seasonal coolness.  Good things I have my love to keep me warm...

One Week Ago Today...

I'm a little behind here.  This was a busy week on Sunny Toad Farm.  Not only was Monday Valentines Day, but Tuesday was my birthday.  For me it is kind of like the Christmas Eve and Christmas days of celebration feeling.  We started out last Saturday with a birthday gathering at my mom's house.  My sister made the most gorgeous mum bouquet of cupcakes.  The petals are made of marshmallows.  I brought one home and it is now petrified for posterity on my kitchen counter.

The kids had made Valentines for everyone.  Madigan made a special one for her Great Uncle Chuck.  She used a picture of the two of them together a few years ago when she had dressed him in a pink scarf.

Even though Mad is too big to sit on Uncle Chuck's lap and my kitchen cabinets now sport a different shade of paint it is nice to see some things remain constant.

Aunt Diane was happy to fill us in on the story behind the shirt.  One year before Christmas he had expressed great interest in it.  Even though the shirt was quite expensive she purchased it because he so seldom makes such a specific request.  Quite frankly I am envious.  I wish Breadwinner's favorite was something other than a t'shirt!

 This last photo is mostly for my cousin Corinne because she wasn't there to laugh with us over this mug.    It says, "If you can't lose it, dress it!"  The ladies on the mug look like Grandma Rosemary and I.  It makes me laugh every time!        

 Sunday night my in-laws had us in for a delicious supper.  I can't remember the last time I was uncomfortably full after a meal.  Oh the sweet suffering...

Monday a friend and her kids came over to celebrate Valentines Day and make a craft.  

Tuesday my kids thought we were still celebrating as it was my real birth day.  They were super excited about the French Horn Breadwinner scored for me through a radio swap and sell show.  I'm having a great time tooting my own horn!  

Thursday my mom came to help me set up for our church's Sweetheart Banquet.  She spent the night so she could spend all day cooking with me.  She is an amazing ball of creative energy and I couldn't have done it without all her help.  I will be sure to post some pictures of the event when I find my camera...

Happy Valentines Day

I can't decide whether my oldest baby made me look good or bad today.  She made me a wonderful Valentines gift which made me remember how great a gift I didn't make for my Mom.  On the other hand she was so creative and useful with what she had to make a very special gift.

My gift was made from a shirt I threw out.  My little dumpster diver saved it and made it over.  She is such a good student!  I asked her if I should wash it before I wore it due to its dubious former lodgings.  She assured me it had been washed with a bar of soap in the bathtub as she couldn't chance me seeing it in the laundry!

(photo by Madigan)

For the transformation she first cut it up the middle front and hand stitched a hem to make a cardigan.  Then she crocheted a new collar and cuffs.  Lastly she added a few buttons to spice things up.  And of course I wore it all day.  That's what mothers do.  Just ask mine.  You should have seen her Christmas day...

1 Corinthians 13 For Moms

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and teach my children Latin conjugations, Chinese and Portuguese, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal, and no matter what I say, they will not hear me.

If I have the gift of prophecy, and know my children’s bents and God’s plan for their lives, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and am the keeper of the teacher’s editions and solutions manuals, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, and even keep up with my giant piles of laundry and dishes, but do not have love, I am nothing, even if all the people at church think I’m Supermom.

And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and my formal dining room gets turned into a schoolroom and our family vacations look more like educational fieldtrips, and if I surrender my body to be burned, never having time to get my nails done, put makeup on or even take a bath, but do not have love, it profits me nothing, because all my family cares about is the expression on my face, anyway.

Love is patient with the child who still can’t get double-digit subtraction with borrowing, and kind to the one who hasn’t turned in his research paper. It is not jealous of moms with more, fewer, neater, more self-directed, better-behaved or smarter children. Love does not brag about homemade bread, book lists, or scholarships and is not arrogant about her lifestyle or curriculum choices. It does not act unbecomingly or correct the children in front of their friends. It does not seek its own, trying to squeeze in alone time when someone still needs help; it is not provoked when interrupted for the nineteenth time by a child, the phone, the doorbell or the dog; does not take into account a wrong suffered, even when no one compliments the dinner that took hours to make or the house that took so long to clean.

Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness or pointing out everyone else’s flaws, but rejoices with the truth and with every small step her children take in becoming more like Jesus, knowing it’s only by the grace of God when that occurs.

Love bears all things even while running on no sleep; believes all things, especially God’s promise to indwell and empower her; hopes all things, such as that she’ll actually complete the English curriculum this year and the kids will eventually graduate; endures all things, even questioning from strangers, worried relatives, and most of all, herself.

Love never fails. And neither will she. As long as she never, never, never gives up. 

(from heartofthematteronline.com )

Adult Cousin Camp (A.C.C.)

The best part about Dad's passing is all the love and support and time spent with family.  I've mentioned before how close in proximity I was growing up with my cousins.  They were with us through the journey of Dad's failing health right up to the end.  Then they were there to help the funeral home take away Dad's shell, feed us, hold us, and watch Dad's life video.  It was during this time that Sarah and Emily decided we needed to have an A.C.C.  This past weekend was the First (hopefully Annual) Adult Cousin Camp.  We didn't get t'shirts, but we did bead some matching headbands made from an old wool coat of Grandma's.  Oh, and we did a little shopping too!  Thanks for the new memories girls.  

Here we all are wearing Grandma's old coat on our heads.

Our server was fresh out of the Army and full of political ambition.

I had Matt take a photo of my nails.  They were fun while they lasted.  The paint started chipping on Monday...

Cousin Camp

In the summer of 2006 my mom held the first annual Cousin Camp.  She has fond memories of her cousins coming to spend time on the farm and wanted her grandchildren to be close with their cousins as well.  I have to chuckle even as I write this.  Four of my five siblings live within 2 miles of the old home place.  I live a mere 40 minutes away.  I do have one brother who left the midwest to attend seminary on the left coast who has yet to return to the promised land, but he is the exception to the rule.  Even though my kids see their cousins often, cousin camp has helped them forge a strong bond with great memories they would not have otherwise.  In fact, the memories and fore-thoughts of Cousin Camp played a big role in how they viewed and dealt with the passing of their Papa.  In the weeks following my dad's death they consoled themselves aloud on a daily basis with the fact that even though Papa is now in heaven Mama will still have Cousin Camp. It is one of life's consistencies children so need and desire.  It is a landmark Mama and Papa set for them.

2006

2007- Indians
(That's the Wise Old Indian there in the middle.  He emerged each evening from the corn field with the shot of a flaming arrow to tell stories around the campfire.  The kids only realized the Wise Old Indian's true identity when they discovered the costume in Mama and Papa's closet while playing hide and seek a couple years later!)

2008- Olympics 

2009- Wild West- Boot Hill Bill and Sasparilla Sally

2010- Cousinlot
(Notice how proliferate my siblings and I are!)

Weekly someone still brings up the fact that C.C. is getting closer as they surmise what the theme may be this year.  I'm just thinking that since Aunt Diane has agreed to join Uncle Chuck in assisting this year perhaps we could stretch the length of Cousin Camp a bit...