(Late) Memorial Day Post

We're mighty proud of that ragged old flag.

Prouder still of the men and women who give her meaning; prouder still of those who sacrifice so much so that we can live in safety and freedom.

Don't forget about soldiers on the days when it isn't Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, or Independence Day, all right?  It wouldn't be out of line, if you see a veteran in the restaurant, to buy him breakfast--even if it's not a holiday--just Tuesday.

And pray for servicemen and women, that they come home safe--and soon.

Breanna

In These Tough Economic Times

Elinor: Imagine how much worse it must be for us--you will inherit your fortune; we cannot even earn ours.
Edward: Well, then perhaps Margaret is right.
Elinor: About what?
Edward: Perhaps piracy IS our only option.

--Sense and Sensibility
(the movie)




Apparently things are even tough in Canada these days.  Ya'll know I can't resist a pirate song.

Cheers,

Breanna

Pinching Pennies and Organizing Letters

Miss Boo and Brother were given a set of foam letters by their aunt and uncle a while ago, and while the letters have always been popular, lately Miss Boo has realized that you can sort them by color.  She's been organizing them into little piles named Purple, Blue, Red, Green, Orange, and Lello.

Meanwhile I've been transitioning Brother back to cloth diapers and re-reading my copy of The Tightwad Gazette with pencil in hand, looking for ideas on how to save.  For reasons that readers of this blog who are related to me either already know or will know shortly (Mom and Dad are bringing the news to the reunion, yo), we're going to need a new car here in the next few months.

I'm struck by how much of this stuff I know and just inexplicably stopped doing.  For instance, the price book.

A price book is a little notebook (or Excel spreadsheet) which you use to track prices in your local grocery stores.  For instance, I can buy groceries at Costco, Walmart, Albertson's, Safeway, the foofie health food store, and the dinky little local store.  Some things are much cheaper at Walmart (canned veggies); but some things are not (bread products).  Some things are cheaper at Safeway (grains), but some things are not (milk).  Some things really are cheaper at Costco (milk, cheese, and cereal) but other things REALLY are not (pasta).

The idea of a price book is that you write down who has the deals, and shop in several stores vs. one, so that you get the lowest price on everything.  Sometimes this isn't practical, but if you plan your grocery shopping for one a month or bimonthly, it's less taxing than you might think.

I know all this, but somehow stopped doing it consistently.  Time to start again.

I know that line-drying our clothes saves quite a bit of power.  Time to start again.

What is it that makes consistency so difficult?  I'm convinced it's because we are designed to be eternal but we're trapped in time, so the closest we get to eternal is to keep trying, stumbling, and trying again.

So, look around your life, figure out what you already know--and start again.

Cheers,

Breanna

May I Just Say...

...long live PBO?

Because otherwise, this is what we're stuck with.

*Shudder*

Breanna

Noah's Ark

So this weekend Grandma came and we made up the guest room bed for her, and Miss Boo wanted to sit on the bed to 1) test it and 2) be safe from the vermicious vaccuum cleaner, which she tolerates but regards with decided suspicion.

By the time I got done vaccuuming, this is what I found:

And why the "pin-pins"?  Because she was going to help me with the laundry, and she wanted to be ready.

We had Noah's Ark for a Bible story in school today, so Brother's couch (which folds out) became the ark.  Brother is one of the sons/wives presumably.  Miss Boo is Noah, because Noah gets to drive.  (Note Pony, who has to play all the animals simultaneously.)

"Mama, where's my keys?"

]

"Where... where is my keys?"  (Alas, my dear, the losing-things-in-the-purse situation only gets worse from here on out.)

"HI Mama!  I'm driving the ark!"

See this boy?  Can you tell he's got a mild sunburn?  The little stubborn man kept taking his hat off yesterday while we were planting.  I knew I should have gone inside to get the hat that you can basically staple under his chin.  See if he ever gets to run around without a hat again this summer.  (Not if I have anything to do with it.)  When you're bald, you can't afford to go hatless.

Cheers,

Breanna

Necessary Skills

First of all, I realized after I was in bed supposed to be sleeping that my note accompanying the video below could have been construed as sarcastic.  It wasn't.  I just thought the video was funny.

Secondly, we put the garden in this weekend.  I'd post pictures, except that it's raining this morning and the garden is covered up with this white Hutterite crop cover.  We'd had it on the plot earlier to warm up the ground, and when we turned it back the garden was a waving jungle of ridiculously huge dandelions and volunteer spinach that had gleefully seeded itself everywhere after my spinach bolted last year.  It had rained, and somehow that made the weeds really easy to pull, so I spent a little time on my hands and knees filling 5-gallon buckets with weeds.  Once the garden was clean, we just turned over the dirt, plopped our seeds in, laid the drip hose down, and put the cover back on.

I haven't put out my tomatoes, peppers, or bok choi yet.  They look so very tender and it can still dip below freezing at night.  I'm going to give them another week or two on my windowsill.

Thirdly, look what I found:

Elizabethan seams.

Yes, I am a sewing geek.  I also found this:

The complete text of Dillmont's Encyclopedia of Needlework.  You have to understand that Dillmont's book was written in the nineteenth century, but is STILL the veritable Bible of handwork.  It's worth looking at just for the instructions on how to do "plain sewing".

You see, having looked at the flimsy quality of my hand seaming, it had occurred to me to wonder--what did they do in the olden days, when hand seaming was all there was?  How did they make work clothes?  Or underpants?  How did they make those spectacularly heavy skirts with layers and layers of flounces?

Answer: the Elizabethan seam for uniforms/work clothes, and Therese de Dillmont's "first make a running stitch, then backstitch the seam" for everything else.  That puppy would be strong.

Note: since I figured out I was supposed to use backstitch for "load-bearing seams", my handsewn seams have become much less flimsy.

And I think that's all my news.  I will take more pictures soon, preferably of the kids romping in the (dry) garden.  If it would only stop raining for a bit this afternoon...

Cheers,

Breanna

P.S. I am aware I want the rain if I've just planted my garden.  I am being inconsistent.

OK, This is Funny

Not that my Mom does this.  She already knows I don't like fish.

(I don't!  Never really have... although salmon is ok.)



Hee hee hee.

Cheers,

Breanna