An Attitude of Gratitude

What's that new art work on our wall? Nothing yet. But in the course of the next few weeks I hope it turns into a masterpiece.

And I hope as we write or draw pictures of what we're thankful for, we remember how very much we do have. Because as I told Claire as we started this project during Evan's naptime, I'm happiest when I'm thinking about all the things I have, and I'm saddest when I'm only thinking of things I don't have. We did a thankful tree like this last Thanksgiving, and it was so fun to see it grow and to even invite others to add a leaf as they came to our house. So while all the leaves outside are falling OFF the trees, we're adding leaves to our tree inside, one blessing at a time.

We did a Family Home Evening lesson on gratitude a couple of weeks ago, as some members of the family have a hard time with whining when they are given things that aren't quite the way they wanted them. And since then the catch phrase in our house has been "attitude of gratitude" -hilarious coming out of the mouth of a 2 year old.

Patches

I HATE holey jeans, and I think that patches look silly. Like most people, I would prefer to be able to replace my children's pants when they start showing wear, but, even shopping at resale stores, that has become an impossibility for my budget. So, here I am, trying to figure out how to patch jeans, but make it look alright.

First, I went through my scraps of fabric, looking for boyish, and girlish ones that were heavy enough to stand up to some wear and tear. Then I got creative with the shapes I cut out - flowers for the girls, parallelograms, triangles, and diamonds for the boys.

The other thing I hate about patching is that my children's pants legs are too small to fit on my sewing machine - so it either turns out looking funny, or I could rip open a seam to spread it out and use the sewing machine - or I can hand sew it. Ugh!

This time around, though, I had a day when I was mostly confined to the couch anyway, due to pregnancy issues, so hand sewing at least gave me something to do. I got out my cross-stitch thread and picked some complimentary colors. Using three strands at a time, I stitched all around the shapes. Oh, I almost forgot.... I used spray adhesive to stick the patches to the jeans until I got them sewed on. It should come out in the first wash, and was a lot easier than trying to pin them on.

Here are some pictures of the finished product.

Canning

I have just finished cleaning the baked on mess off of my stove after the last round of canning. Every time I do this, I wonder about the sanity of the project. Sure, we have boxes of applesauce, tomatoes, green beans, apple pie filling, grape juice, and peaches. But how much would that really cost if I just bought it at the grocery store?

Especially if you have to purchase the produce, canning doesn't make sense economically these days. Here are a couple of reasons why I still do it:

1) Some things you just can't get at the store. Homemade grape juice and applesauce are so much better than the store bought variety. It's worth the extra effort, at least at our house.

2) If I don't factor in time, it really does help with the family budget. I'm going to be home with the kids anyway, why not use some of that time to do something productive - and hopefully teach the kids to be productive, too!

3) I love having a garden, and gardening automatically leads to canning.

4) I have lots of wonderful family and neighbors who love to give us their extra fruit - how could I say no to that?

Fun Halloween Costumes

This is more for next year, but I'm pretty proud of our family costumes, so I thought I'd post some pictures.

This year, we became beekeepers (one hive in our yard, and one in my father-in-law's), so we thought we'd have the kids be bees and Mom and Dad would be beekeepers. That worked out pretty well, except that I never got around to making a second beekeeping outfit for myself (Dad wore the actual beekeepers jacket).

I got over-sized t-shirts on sale, and we spray painted them, using 2x4's to make the unpainted rows. Next time I think I'll try brush on paint, but it worked. They already had black pants/tights and shoes, so that was a done deal. For the head gear, I splurged at Michael's for the girls antennae, but our son thought they were too girly. I could have sworn he told me he didn't want antennae, but the afternoon before we were to don the costumes for the first time, he tearfully told me that he did want some, just not as a headband!

Fortunately, we happened to have some yellow pom-poms and brown pipe cleaner (black would have been better, but it worked). I used a hot glue gun to stick the pom-poms on, and he was happy. In fact, his antennae stayed on much longer than the girls did!

For wings, I remember that we had three old pair of dollar store fairy wings in the Halloween bin, so out they came to be spray painted along with the t-shirts. Certainly better than the cardboard cutouts I had envisioned!

Over the past week, those costumes have been worn at least 6 times. Taking them trick-or-treating together Monday night was a blast. Times like these make me happy to be a mother!

Thoughts on Walking

The kids and I were enjoying a leisurely fall walk the other day. We got to an intersection.

Okay, when the red hand turns into a green man walking, Evan, you hold my hand so we can cross the street together, and Claire, hold the stroller so we can be safe.

Red hand into green man. Go.

We start across the street with both kids dutifully holding on to their respective spots with their eyes on the goal in front of us - sidewalk.

We get to the middle of the street. Evan's eyes wander for a moment from the sidewalk in front of us to the cars lined up beside us, and the ones wanting to turn onto the street we are crossing. Then complete PANIC.

He lets go of my hand, starts running one way across the street, then back the other way, trying to avoid all the cars he is sure are going to get him. The best way to describe it for you Tennesseans is a squirrel in the middle of the road running back and forth trying to decide which side is safest until he eventually gets smashed because he can't make up his mind.

It could have been bad. It could have been very bad. Somehow stroller, Mom, and three kids made it to the other side where I put on my figurative safety badge and told Evan about all the safety violations he had just made.

Then as we continued to walk I realized I have enacted that exact scene over and over and over again in my own life. When things are going well, I hold tight to the Lord's hand, trusting in Him completely. I keep my eyes on the goal ahead - eternal life - and continue happily on my walk enjoying the beautiful scenery. But when I get right into the thick of it, and look to the sides and see the cars waiting to smash me, or the 3 year old whining and screaming and kicking and the 2 year old hitting and biting and the baby. . . well the baby is generally innocent in these scenarios thus far. . . but when I get into the thick of it and can't take the attitude anymore, I let go of the Lord's hand and decide I'm going to do it my way. I yell! Or smack my hand on the table and then yell. Or do a million childish things that I'm not proud of.

The kids and I manage to get to the other side - through the tense moment - but it's never in the same pleasurable manner we would have enjoyed if I had held hands and trusted the whole way.

So what does this have to do with frugality? Nothing. Except we were walking a mile and a half, because that's how far away from campus you have to park if you don't want to pay $6 for the parking garage. So park and walk. You just might learn some life lessons on the way. . . if your 2 year old doesn't become roadkill first.

Backseat Buckles

In anticipation of the arrival of number 4, we decided to move our 3 year old to the back seat of the mini-van. Unfortunately, getting buckled became very difficult. She wants to do it, but the buckle kept sliding under her booster seat! Getting in the van became a 10 minute process as we waited for 5 minutes each time while she got her buckle latched.

Then, inspiration struck! I went to the fabric store, got a 3 inch piece of 2 inch wide industrial strength sticky-backed velcro. Then I attached the soft side to the buckle and the rough side to her booster seat. I used the other half to do the same for her brother's booster.

Getting-in-the-van time is back down to its normal 5 minutes, and even big brother admits that it's easier to get buckled now!

Super Saturday

This post is more for my sisters than for anyone else out there. I'm in charge of Super Saturday in a couple of weeks. We're going to be making magnet boards, and I thought that some of my sisters might find them useful. If you're interested, check out the pictures at http://wt10threliefsociety.blogspot.com/ and let me know if I can make you one for Christmas!

I think I'll make one for Joseph to hang his school handouts on in his room - but I'll probably try covering it with fabric on front and felt on back.