Belly Donuts

Scene from last night...Mama look!! I have a perfect Belly Donut!!!


She cracks me up!!!!

Bitesize Pumpkin Pies

Today Raine is having a Thanksgiving Day Celebration at school and I wanted to make something extra special to go along with the theme. Since one of her favorite things is pumpkin pie I decided to make mini pumpkin pies for her class . I made a traditional pumpkin pie filling and then rolled out pastry dough and used a biscuit cutter to form rounds that fit into a 24 count mini cupcake pan. Crimping the edges I filled each one up with my pumpkin mix. After that it was into the oven at 450 for 15 min and then down to 350 until a knife inserted into the middle came out clean. I packed them all up in festive Tupperware, through in a can of whipped cream and sent them off with her on the bus. I hope everyone likes them, but either way she was thrilled....

Thrifted Christmas

I just aquired this beautiful handmade babydoll cradle for Raine for christmas. I love that I was able to get it second hand and that it's made of nontoxic materials by someone crafty. I think she's going to love it and my budget loved the price.

Originally worth - 70.00

Price I got it for from craiglist - 20.00

Weekend List...

Plan & host activities at an 11yr olds birthday slumber party
Attempt to create an sew doll clothes for christmas
Bake Bread
Shop for Turkey Day
Try out a few more healthy/organic recipes for Lis's shop
Organize Basement
Reorganize Raine's room
Sew/Modify Curtains for Raine's Room
Try and Run a mile...this is a big one
Spend some time outside and in the woods
Start Working on Homemade Christmas Gifts

What's for Lunch Wednesdays...

Raine's Lunch Today:

Steamed Vegetables with a homemade cheese fondue sauce, strawberries that we picked this summer and mom's oatmeal cookies...

Cozy

These Hands...

These Hands of mine have seen 29 years,
They have been seasoned by joys and lined by fears,
They have climbed to the top of many trees,
And been stung in the summer by angry bees,
They have dug into the earth and made glorious mud pies,
And caught faeries at dusk disguised as fireflies,
They have worn rings made of bright colored sugar and fanciful dreams,
And adorned a silver one filled with hope that fell apart at the seams,
They have expressed great emotion and fought for what was right,
They have been afraid but not broken as the dark turned to light,
They have called forth the Raine and held her cherished in their arms,
They have watched her grow these six years and been captivated by her charms,
They have found new passions and creativity's that brought forth a new path,
A lightness of spirit, a sense of self and many new reasons to laugh,
They are strong enough to protect me and gentle enough to heal,
And as I look upon them today I cannot help but feel,
A sense of great accomplishment and an excitement to see,
What is waiting for them next and what more there will be...

Our Vote Was Cast...

We travelled through the back woods last night is search of a little fire department in order to cast our vote for a man that we hope will bring about a good change for the future of this country.

Raine was excited and knew for whom she was partial to as she had voted in class earlier in the day and was sure that this was the right man for the job. She said to me that she liked both men but one man's smile was a little bit brighter and he seemed like he laughed more often. She thought that if a man was truly happy and had a kind heart he would be a good president and looking at it in this light I must agree. As I was trying to make my decision over the last few months I knew who I was leaning towards and whose policies and promises I was more inclined to believe in but I was worried that I would again be voting for the lesser of two evils. I took what my daughter said to heart and trusting my intuition voted for the man that is today our new president.

This morning I feel a great sense of hope that he with the help and energy of all who believe in him will be the leader that this country so dearly needs and can bring about the changes that will guide our country/world towards a better tomorrow...

Two Gypsies

Last Weeks Snow Storm

Here are a few pics from my drive home during the snow storm last week. We lost power for about twelve hours. Tomorrow it is supposed to be 60, weird...

My Leaf Bowls

I made these leaf bowls in a two part pottery class not to far from my home that is taught by a wonderfully quirky and earthy artist by the name of Suzanna Van Schoonhoven Hunter .

For the first class you had to gather leaves that you liked and bring them to class. Then you roll out clay on canvas with a rolling pin to about a quarter inch thick and press the leaf backside down into the clay. Next you cut away the excess clay around your leaf and smooth out the edges. Pulling the leaf away gently you lay each clay leaf pressed side down over a bowl until you have the shape or form that you desire. Now you make feet and it is later fired in a kiln.
The second class was my favorite part as you got to glaze the bowls. The glazes come in all sorts of colors and that you can mix and match just to see what will appear. When you apply it, it does not look anything like the final color so once it has been fired a second time the finished product is a complete surprise (It felt like Christmas when I went to pick them up).

I loved this class and as it turned out the date just happened to be on the eve of this years autumn equinox and I thought this was the perfect way to celebrate the season...

"A Real Leafman"

During our walk the other day we came across this pool that held a small grouping of leaves. Raine was looking at it when all of sudden her eyes lit and she said, "Look mom, A real leafman"! "You're right sweetpea, great eye"...

An Autumn Walk

It's Snowing 2!!!!!

It's Snowing!!!

It's 3:28 on October 28, 2008 and we are getting our first snow...The people you hear in the backround are people at my work that have never seen snow before. It is always so neat to watch how excited they get...

Thrifting, Traveling & Turnips

This weekend Laura and I took a day trip to Vermont to explore the countryside and see what we could run into. Here are a few of the things that we came across...This is an awesome thrift store right outside Wilmington Vermont that is owned by the community and run by volunteers so that all profits may go back in to the community to support the working poor...

We also came across the 6th annual Gilfeather Turnip Festival in a town called Wardsboro. It holds a contest for the biggest locally grown turnip of the season, a craft fair with lots of local wares, turnip tastings (cool and inventive recipes made by the town folk all using the star ingredient), turnip souvenirs (tee-shirts, cookbooks, DVD, and even a children's book) and lots of activities for the kids. All in all it was just the sort of small town charm that Laura and I had been in search of and by far the highlight of our day...

Below is the prize winner at a whopping 24 pounds and the runners up which were no small potatoes or in this case turnips themselves, I can't wait to try growing a turnip this big in my own garden next year...

Leafman

A few weeks ago I volunteered in Raine's classroom and offered to read a book and do an art project with the kids while I was there. I choose Leafman by Lois Ehlert and gathered up a huge basketful of different kinds of leaves for the kids to create their own rendition of a leafman. The project turned out great and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. It was so cute how very serious they took it and how completely different they all came out. I loved bringing a pieces of nature inti the classroom and teaching them to look at things in a slightly different way.

Go(urd)geous!!!!

Raine's teacher sent home a gourd with all the kids last week and told them to use their imaginations, really look at it and turn it into something creative. Raine cut off the goose neck part (I don't know why, she told me that she just didn't like it) looked through her children's dictionary and decided it looked like a turkey. The craft cabinet was opened and with a little help from mom this beautiful bird was born....

Autumn Apples

This Weekend was spent lost in the countryside on a mission to find Apples. We zig zagged back and forth in the hills between altamont and schoharie because I was sure that Indian Ladder Farms was in there somewhere...

Alas after a couple hours of singing silly songs, beautiful fall foliage, and several surprise garage sales (man I love it when I run into those) we finally pulled over to the side of the rode and asked a man working in his yard were we could find our destination. He told us that it was just on the other side of altamont (you should have heard the scoff that came out of the back seat). We thanked him and were on our merry way (we ran into two more garage sales before getting there, and she was about done with me at this point :). Indian Ladder Farms has been around since 1915 and is a family run business. It consists of various pick you own apples (many varieties), berries, and pumpkins and offers vegetables and other treats in their country store. They have an apple cider press on site and make there own cider donuts (mmm) as well as many animals and fun activities for the family (hay rides, horse-drawn carriage, pony rides).