Special Valentines for chaotic times

So, I saw an some salt dough heart necklaces on pinterest.com which linked to http://amazingmae.blogspot.com/2012/02/salt-dough-necklaces.html
I think they are adorable thought it would be something nice for the girls to give out to their friends instead of paper cards that get mixed up with the gobs of other paper cards kids get on Valentine's Day. Plus it looks like much more fun to make.

So, the night before I went to get my box of cookie cutters, only I can't find the box! We have moved twice in the last year and everything is not unpacked here yet. Darn. I absolutely hate buying repeats just because I can't find something.
Okay, we'll do something else for cutting the hearts out- now where's my ribbon? Ooops, can't find ribbon either. Bummer. Guess I'll just have to go to the store after all. Wait, there's my yarn! Yay! I'll just crochet some red chains to hang the hearts on, that'll work just as well. Whew. Then I remembered seeing lots of toilet paper tube hearts on pinterest, they were using them to make stamps and candles and who knows what else. So, I made a toilet paper tube heart shaped 'cookie cutter' to cut out the pendants. Yay! Problems solved.

Yesterday I made the salt dough (I added red food coloring so there wouldn't be any blank white spots if the girls didn't completely cover them in paint) and we cut out hearts (with holes cut out for the yarn to go through). I think it took about 3 hours of baking at 200F for them to finally be completely hardened. They painted some of them yesterday afternoon, but it was getting colder since it was late so they are finishing them up today. They should all be ready by the time the school bus runs this afternoon.

I ran out of salt when I made the salt dough, but I can see the girls making LOTS of salt dough creations once I make some more. Shamrocks, Easter Eggs, and so on. They seem more stable and less crumbly than the air drying clay you can buy in the stores, and much cheaper too.

"If you can read this thank a teacher"

Meh. That was the phrase I saw on a t-shirt today. My thoughts were:
Define 'teacher'. No, really. I knew how to read before I set foot in any school. My mom taught me my letters and how to spell my name and she played lots of learning games with me. I watched shows like Sesame Street and I always had books. The first thing I ever read was written in cursive and it was in a Little Golden Book- 'this book belongs to _______' and my mom had written my name there in cursive. Everything just 'clicked' at that moment, and then I was able to read the whole book to my parents. No professional 'teacher' taught me to read or write.
I mean no disrespect to teachers. I just find the idea that 'if you have a skill then you should go thank a teacher' to be preposterous.

Packing Up

Yikes! We only have two weekends left before we pick up our rental truck and start loading it. We're getting it on a Sunday. Today I am going to start packing up the living room. This past week we got a lot done, DH got the garage mostly packed.
I think that in order to save my sanity I'm going to pick out 5 outfits for each kid to keep out, and pack the rest of their clothes so that laundry isn't piling up.
I am so looking forward to unpacking right now. It's hard to imagine this house being empty again. We are giving away our living room furniture and we're going to get something new after the move. This stuff has really just about had it, but it seems like there's always someone out there who can still use it. We gave away a recliner yesterday and just having that out of the house has opened up so much room. I don't know if I'll be posting pics any time soon. My oldest's computer has gone wonky so she's been using mine and I haven't been online as much. I probably won't be online much till after we are settled in, except for posting things on Freecycle.

The kids have been cooped up inside for a bit now, we've planted grass seed in the backyard and we really want it to grow in as well as it can for the next folks so we don't want them out in the back running amok. One of the neighbor kids has been being a terror so we don't want ours out front with him around unless we are supervising. But we are busy packing and otherwise preparing for the move so we don't really have time to supervise right now. They've been plugged in to the PS3, they've all had a blast since the Play Station network has been up and running again, so they can play with their online friends again. I'm not sure what they'll do those last 2-3 days, we'll probably pack up the TVs and such the day before we pickup the truck. The swingset is gone already. I guess we'll give them their swimsuits and some waterguns and tell them to go play in the street, LOL (it's a cul-de-sac).

Moving

Well, last week DH and I were able to drive out to Jacksonville (it's a 6 hour drive from here) and make a deposit for a new place. I'm looking forward to moving, even though it's stressful and it takes all of us a while to adjust it is fun to be in a new place and a new home. We will be adopting a cat after we move and settle in- YAY!
Everyone is looking forward to having a kitty in the house.
The new house has hardwood floors in the living areas (except the dining room- but we will put a rug in there to protect the carpet) which is great, I really loathe carpet, especially in high traffic areas. It has an in ground pool, which everyone is looking forward to using of course. And there may be a trampoline.
Now we just have to turn in our 30 day notice, reserve a rental truck and trailer and pack everything. Things are going to be happening quickly from here on out.
Honey is off work next week so hopefully we'll get a lot accomplished during that time.

Shark Tooth Creek

This past weekend we took road trip up to stay with my parents on Friday evening, then got up early Saturday morning to drive the 2 hours to Shark Tooth Creek for a field trip.
At Shark Tooth Creek there are thousands of fossilized shark teeth waiting to be found. For a fee the owner drives everyone down to the creek in a converted horse trailer that has benches along each side, and guides them along the creek helping them find the fossils.
Mr. Ken was a hoot, he really enjoyed pulling our legs a few times. Our group was small- 18 people. There were supposed to be 30 other people with a Cub Scout group but they canceled.
We were there long enough to put on our water shoes when Mr. Ken drove up in the Shark Tooth Express. We waited a few minutes for another family to arrive and then he gave us a talk about why there are so many fossilized shark teeth in his creek, told us what other sorts of fossils that they've found in the creek and then we were on our way.
Since our group was so small, he was able to make sure that every child became a member of the X club- each child found a pretty large shark tooth either with his help or on their own.
We were in the creek for a couple of hours. I tried to keep up with my kids at first, but they went in different directions as usual. Honey seemed to be following them well, and Mr. Ken and his helper (I'm sorry I can't recall his name)were making sure everyone was safe, so I was able to relax and enjoy hunting for teeth myself. I figured that if I got quite a few then I didn't have to worry about any of the kids being disappointed if they didn't find as many as someone else. Honey kept giving the teeth he found to the kids to put in their bags too. Monkey ended up collecting pebbles towards the end of the search. I found some sort of back bone fossil, but I don't remember what fish it was from. It is black and round and concave on both sides and looks like one of the bones that comes in a can of Salmon. At least I think they still have bones in the cans, I haven't bought canned Salmon and haven't eaten it since I was a child so I'm not sure if they still do that.
I found some sort of animal bone that Oldest wanted to keep.
Budder found the largest shark tooth that day (all by himself) and won a t-shirt for finding it but he also got to keep the tooth- we all got to pick 15 teeth to keep. We were in the creek for a couple of hours and then right when I started getting tired it was time to go back up to the pavilion. That's when Budder won his t-shirt- they compared all the largest teeth to see who had the biggest. After that the others stayed to eat their lunches and then to go up and play on the playground equipment and zip line but we had to leave then in order to have enough time to go visit with FIL and then MIL and their families.
We had a good time and recommend you arrange a visit to Shark Tooth Creek if you are going to be in or near the area. You have to make an appointment and they are only open for fossil hunting on Saturdays.
I haven't loaded any pics yet, but I will eventually. Things are a bit hectic right now as we prepare for a move to JAX.

Flowers and a Dishcloth

The azaleas are blooming everywhere, I can't decide whether I like the overgrown ones that are full of blooms sticking out all over, or the ones that are shaped into need squares and circles that look like huge pink cakes with flowers all over them.

Waffle weave- everyone seems to think this one will be a superior dishcloth because of the texture.

I have made 8 bags so far

I have four more striped bags.

The ones I've made match my purse! I thought that was funny.

I have found that it is relaxing to make a bag, once I got the hang of it. I don't use my machine very often and had to re-learn how to wind the bobbin correctly, the first bag I made has the handles going across the top from side to side instead of being a loop on one side- Oops.
My daughter found my rotary cutter in the garage while she was on a toy hunt. I was getting ready to buy a new one- now it won't take me so long to cut out the squares.

I'm thinking about keeping a box in the back of the Suburban so that if the baggers try to use disposable bags I can just tell them to put the items directly into my cart and skip the bagging altogether, then the loose items can be bagged when I get to the truck and if there really is an overflow then I can stick things in the box so they don't tumble around while I drive. If I continue to have a problem with the baggers using my cloth bags then I think I'll just refuse their service.

Books, Fabric and Recycling

I just got this book in the mail from a Paperbackswap member today, I hope I enjoy reading it- I like knitting and I like mysteries so I think I will.

This is the fabric I picked up today from a Freecycler. I tried to spread it out to get a photo of the different patterns. I definitely have a couple of favorites picked out that will make great bags that I'll really enjoy using. Not sure what I'll do with one that's a pink print I don't care for, maybe I'll make a bag of it and offer it on Freecycle.
There are two old rice bags, I think they'll make great totes.

There are some other odd bits I'm not sure what to do with. I'll post of photo of those later. I had to stop handling it due to tightness in my chest. I did manage to throw some into the wash though, so hopefully I'll get to make a bag very soon.

Here it is all stacked up.

On My Mind is a weekly feature at http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-my-mind_25.html

Reusable Bags

There's a tutorial here for making bags.
I'm picking up some fabric from a freecycler today and I plan to make bags with it.
I have a few large, strong totes that I use but the baggers at the commissary just don't know what to do with them- they act like they are flimsier than those plastic bags they have so they do NOT fill them up or put heavy items in them. They always end up bagging things in a VERY weird way- I buy a bar of soap so they put it in huge paper bag all by itself cause they can't put soap in with food- I'd rather stick it in my purse thank you very much. They even bagged a watermelon last time I was there! Who puts a watermelon in a bag!
I have to take the plastic bags to Wal-Mart to have them recycled and I frequently forget to take them with me when I'm out and about. We can't chuck them into the recycling bins here, but at least I can do that with the paper ones.
Yes, I do still shop at Wal-Mart, and Sam's Club. At Sam's they don't bag your stuff though, it just goes back into the cart. I've recently asked them not to bag my things at Wal-Mart when I forgot to take my canvas bags into the store with me, and that worked.
Anyway, I figure if I just make LOTS of bags and take them with me then maybe I'll get out of the commissary without any more disposable bags.

I've got lots of household chores to do today, but after that I'm hoping to spend some time in my room making bags.

Editing My Blog

I've removed lots of 'whiney' posts from my blog, and hopefully I'll be updating it more often with posts on nicer things like: road trips, hobbies, decluttering, general homemaking and some unschooling- with photos. Right now there is an old post toward the bottom of the main page on my blog titled "You've Gotta Go To School", and the video plays automatically when the page is loaded. Sorry about that- I was going to edit it and just post a link to the video instead but now I can't find that video online any more so I'm just going to leave it as it is and hopefully it will get 'buried' under new posts and it will slip to the next page. I don't like it when things completely disappear from the net such as videos/podcasts/etc. that I enjoyed so I don't want to erase it completely by editing that post.