Fun With Wooden Blocks

We've been having so much fun building the outlines of little wooden block houses, filling them with block furniture and then using our little people and cars and trucks for imaginative play.

The furniture consists of a sofa, tv, beds, and table and chairs.



Simple but so much fun.

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Morning Musing Over Coffee - Words



credit: Michelle Meiklejohn

 

Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.  ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

 

They seem so unimportant sometimes until I see the look on the face of the one who hears them, these words that flow out of my mouth.

 

And when they bring a look of happiness I am glad that I was able to brighten the day for someone. But, oh, when I see a look of hurt and realize that my words caused the pain, I am sorry. And I resolve to better control my tongue. It's a learning process, and it seems I keep having to learn some of the same lessons over again.

 

Here are a few verses to help me as I learn to use my words for expressing love and encouragement instead of causing pain and tearing down.

 

Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious, but fools are consumed by their own lips. ~ Ecclesiastes 10:12

 

The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. ~ Proverbs 12:18

 

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. ~ James

 

The wise in heart are called discerning, and gracious words promote instruction. ~ Proverbs 16:21

 

Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. ~ Proverbs 16:24

 

The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is eventempered. ~ Proverbs 17:27

 

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. ~ James 1:26

 

 

 

 

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Baked Ham & Cheese Sandwiches With Homemade Bread

I love my bread machine that Doug got for me. Lately I've been using this recipe - White Bread for the Bread Machine. It's a very simple but tasty recipe and is great for butter bread and sandwiches. And it smells so good while it is baking!

Tuesday I made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch using this bread. The bread slices are bigger than a store bought loaf of bread so I used two slices of cheese and two slices of ham for each sandwich. I prepared them just like I normally would for grilled cheese sandwiches but but instead of putting them in the skillet I put them on a cookie sheet in the oven at 350 F, I turned them halfway through baking so they would be browned on both sides.  These sandwiches, served with a bowl of tomato soup were a yummy lunch.

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Watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

We don't usually do this but this was just one of those mornings when it seemed like the best plan. They all look like they're in a trance.

Now they are outside playing with Austin and it's time for me to get some work done.



Cutting Grapes



Braided Rugs, Patchwork Curtains and Bean Bag Chairs

I have quite a bit on my "workdesk" right now and not so much time to work on all these projects. But I'm having so much fun with them so it's all good.

For years I've carried around with me a stash of fabric that I couldn't quite decide what to do with. I finally settled on some projects and now I have three started. One of the reasons I have so many started is that I'm cutting things out while I'm waiting on a part for me sewing machine. It should be here any day now, and then I can actually start sewing.

The first project I started is patchwork curtains. Because the house we live in is an old farm house I thought patchwork curtains would fit very well in here.

I'm keeping it simple with patchwork squares. So far this is what I've cut out.

The second project I started is beanbag chairs. We recently rearranged the playroom, taking out the large couch and chairs. My plan is to make quite a few of these little beanbag chairs, at the moment I have enough panels cut out to make three. I found the pattern at Making It Fun - Bean Bag Chair.

I'm planning to make one red and tan, one green and tan, and one all red.

Now if the piece for the sewing machine would just come!

The third project I started is a braided rug for the playroom. I have quite a few older, mismatched sheets that I'm going to start with. At least I don't have to wait to use my sewing machine for this and can work on it in the in between times when it doesn't work for me to sew.

So there you have it - all the projects that are on my "workdesk" today.

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What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

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 SUNDAY - Strut Your Stuff, Sharing Time, Creative Bloggers Party and Hop, So Sweet Sundays, Sunday Showcase , Not “Baaad” Sunday, Think Pink Sundays, Sunday Linky Party, DIY Project Parade, Just Something I Whipped Up, Sew Darn Crafty, {K.I.S.S.} Blog Bash, MONDAY - Made by You Monday, Inspire Me Mondays, A Marvelous Mess, I Made It, Unwasted Homemaking Linky, Making the World Cuter Monday, More the Merrier, Craft-O-Maniac Monday, Making Monday Marvelous, Sharing Monday, Making a Home, Motivate Me Monday, Market Yourself Monday, TUESDAY - Titus 2sdays, Domestically Divine, Tip Me Tuesday,  One Project at a Time, Teach Me Tuesdays,  Tuesday Time Out, Tuesday Confessionals WEDNESDAY - Homemaking Link-Up, Living Well Wednesdays, THURSDAY - Delightfully Inspiring Thursday, Creative Juice Thursday, It's a Party, FRIDAY – Fridays Unfolded, Finer Things Friday SATURDAY - Weekend Wrap-Up Party



Garden Update - This and That

On Wednesdays I usually try to post a garden update, so here is this week's look at what is going on in the garden.

I thought I had killed all my sunflowers but it turns out two survived. I'm so glad because sunflowers were one of the things Amanda most wanted me to plant.

I love the colors on these gourds.

Many of the grapes are ready to be cut. I'm hoping to get that done this evening. There will only be enough for us to eat in the next few days. I'm hoping to get some more vines planted so that I can make grape juice.

We been getting lots and lots of tomatoes but most of them are staying small. This picture is from Monday, I'll probably have almost that many again this evening when I pick them. I think I'm going to try my hand at Dehydrated Tomatoes.

Here is our little harvest of black eyed peas. I have them here to finish drying before I shell them. We only planted one small row this year but next year I'm going to plant more since these did so well.

Thanks to Doug's faithful watering the Impatiens on the front porch are still looking very nice. It's nice to sit on the porch in the late evenings and enjoy the cooler air and pretty flowers.

And that's a bit of what's going in my garden and yard this week.

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TUESDAY – Tuesday Garden Party,Garden Tuesdays WEDNESDAY Frugal Gardening 101, Outdoor Wednesday, Garden Party,SATURDAY – Saturdays on the Farm



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 SUNDAY - Strut Your Stuff, Sharing Time, Creative Bloggers Party and Hop, So Sweet Sundays, Sunday Showcase , Not “Baaad” Sunday, Think Pink Sundays, Sunday Linky Party, DIY Project Parade, Just Something I Whipped Up, Sew Darn Crafty, {K.I.S.S.} Blog Bash, MONDAY - Made by You Monday, Inspire Me Mondays, A Marvelous Mess, I Made It, Unwasted Homemaking Linky, Making the World Cuter Monday, More the Merrier, Craft-O-Maniac Monday, Making Monday Marvelous, Sharing Monday, Making a Home, Motivate Me Monday, Market Yourself Monday, TUESDAY - Titus 2sdays, Domestically Divine, Tip Me Tuesday,  One Project at a Time, Teach Me Tuesdays ,  Tuesday Time Out, Tuesday Confessionals WEDNESDAY - Homemaking Link-Up, Living Well Wednesdays, THURSDAY - Delightfully Inspiring Thursday, Creative Juice Thursday, It's a Party, FRIDAY – Fridays Unfolded, Finer Things Friday SATURDAY - Weekend Wrap-Up Party

Wordless Wednesday - Daddy's Little Helper

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The Farmer in the Dell - Word Books

We had so much fun singing Farmer in the Dell and playing the game, that I decided to have the kids make a little book about it.

For the front cover I used this farm scene coloring page. Then I added the lyrics of the song. For the remaining pages I used the Farmer in the Dell Word Wall Words, glueing one word on each page. Then I printed and cut out The Farmer in the Dell Felt Board Characters. To make their books each child matched the felt board characters to the words and glued them in. They had a lot of fun making their books and were very proud of them.

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SUNDAY –  Craft Schooling Sunday, The Sunday Showcase, Link & Learn, MONDAY - Learning Laboratory, Made by Little Hands Monday, Sharing Monday TUESDAY -  Noted Show and Tell Blog Hop, WEDNESDAY – Kids Get Crafty, FRIDAY – Preschool Corner, For the Kids Fridays,  The Play Academy, Fun For Kids Friday, High Paw,



Scout and Toby - And 10 Cat Quotes

A couple of weeks ago I said we have two dogs. We do. And we also have two cats. And the cats do not get along with the dogs. The cats do not get along with each other. So of course it keeps things interesting. As if I needed that.

So I thought this week I would share a few cat quotes in honor of our furry feline friends.



Scout

1. As every cat owner knows, no one owns cats. ~ Ellen Perry Berkeley

2. Cats can work out mathematically the exact place to sit to cause most inconvenience. ~ Pam Brown

3. I had been told that the training procedure with cats was difficult. It's not. Mine had me trained in two days. ~ Bill Dana

4. A cat pours his body on the floor like water. ~ Willian Lyon Phelps

5. The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat. ~ Jules Reynard

6. My cat speaks sign language with her tail. ~ Robert A. Stern

7. Like a graceful vase, a cat, even when motionless, seems to flow. ~ George F. Will

8. I named my kitten Rose - fur soft as a petal, claws sharper than thorns. ~ Astrid Alauda

9. A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution. ~ Hazel Nicholson

10. In the middle of a world that has always been a bit mad, the cat walks with confidence. ~ Roseanne Amberson

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Morning Musing Over Coffee - Crayons

credit: Michelle Meiklejohn

I just love a brand new box of Crayola crayons. Especially the boxes of 64 with all those beautiful colors lined up in neat little rows, just waiting to illustrate someone's imagination. I love the smell of a new box of Crayola crayons. It's something no other brand can quite seem to recreate. It seems to be the scent of childhood and imagination and possibility all mixed together.

Robert Fulghum has a few things to say about crayons that I thought I would share.

"We could learn a lot from crayons; some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, while others are bright, some have weird names. But they have all learned to live together in the same box."

"Maybe we should invent a crayon bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And everytime a crisis developed we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a funny little look on their faces and cover the world with imagination."

credit: posterize