Memorial Day: Remember Stories

Sweet Girls

Papa and Sleepy Dot

"Shhh"...the belt hides the fact the waist snap won't stay snapped.

Today was Memorial Day.  The day we remember military veterans who are no longer with us.  We went out to the cemetery where my dad is buried with flowers to decorate his grave.  (Decoration Day is the old fashioned name for Memorial Day)  It was sweet to find an American flag already placed on his resting place.  The care keepers have list of all veterans and a group, maybe the Boy Scouts, place all the flags.  Our family doesn't find cemeteries sad or scary, we really enjoy them.  We shared stories we remember hearing Grandpa tell about his years in the Air Force.  Being a keeper of a families stories is an honor.  Listen and tell stories often.

It was a wonderful weekend.  Look here for more on what we did.

Decoration Day

  Earlier in the Spring I set up flower arranging on a shelf.  A basket for gathering flowers, scissors for cutting and trimming, doilies, a small pitcher of water, and small vases (often jars salvaged from the recycling bin)  The girls enjoy this work year after year.  Recently we also did flower pressing, drawing still life flowers and decorating Grandpa's grave.  This week we will add dissecting a flower and labeling the parts.  It is amazing how much you can do with something that grows right outside your door..

Montessori Ikea: The Infant/Toddler's Room

On a recent trip to Ikea I was on the look out for items that would fit a Montessori inspired home environment.  Here are a few of the items I found.

Unbreakable mirror to hang low on the wall near floor bed.  (buy mattress here too)

One of our favorite infant toys.

Very low shelves.

Books!

Hang low for magnet play

Rotate artwork and photos. (hang out of reach)

Sheep skins for tummy time

All of this is so exciting for me.  I had my first daughter nearly 15 years ago and items like this weren't easily found and when I did find them they were pricey.  We had items similar to the first two pics and the last and each cost us nearly $100.   You can buy all of the above for way less.

Rockabilly Baby

Here's an outfit post from my youngest, Dorothy- age 19mos.

Vintage western shirt a gift (not shown adorable matching skirt)

Vintage 1960's levis, red tag and big E.  All my girls, my brother and myself wore these jeans.  Apparently they are quite collectible, though mostly adorable.

Sparkly shoes from Target.  I will be dressing her in sparkly shoes as long as she will wear them.

Coedith In A Wiggle Dress?!

It is on a very rare occasion through out my life that I wear straight, pencil, wiggle even A-line skirts.  I love full and the fuller the better! (although petticoats have never been my thing)

When I saw this leopard print dress my first thought was Jayne Mansfield.  My second thought was if that fits it is mine.  It did!

I try to dress for my husband most days, but on his days off I try harder.  Case in point this Sunday.  This is my outfit and it went very well from hostessing a brunch to serving dinner.  We didn't even leave the house all day.   

Everyday is datenight with my Papa.

Life In A Small Pink House

In the 1950's the average American family had 3 children and lived in a home of approximately 983 square feet with a single bathroom.  Today the average family has two children and the average home is 2,329 square feet with 3+ bathrooms.   Our home is 1100 square feet, we have 4 children and one bathroom.
 We get a lot of  "One Bathroom! And Four Daughters??"  Yep.

 Put whatever spin on it you want: sustainable living, simple living, vintage living, etc...  We choose to live in a smaller home.  So how do we do it?   I am still figuring it out, but I'd love to share what I have learned, and what I am learning.

Common sense tells you that if you live in a smaller space you need to have less "stuff"-and boy do we love our "stuff"!   We had to really limit our collecting and many of you know when you love vintage it is hard to pass any up.    We ask ourselves "Do I absolutely LOVE this piece?" if the answer is no, then we don't buy/keep it.   Headvases? Not any more.  Tiki masks? Nope.  Roseville? Stopped-but kept some.  Books? We sold many, this we regret.  Royal Copley? Gone.  Collectible toys? The first to go.   You get the picture.  There are sacrifices to living small.

My biggest weapon in keeping the 'a place for everything and everything in it's place' rule is shelving and storage pieces.  Not your typical Ikea storage solutions, but items that are functional and fit the character of our home.

Built ins are wonderful

Shelving!

A secretary with glass display.  Full of stationary, paper, stamps, envelopes etc...

This buffet houses our school work, photographs, linens and randomness.

A vintage treasure chest of pieces we just can't part with.

Books!  and an old bar that once doubled as our TV cabinet.

Flat files for artwork.

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

Does Blogging Validate Me? Part 2

  Yesterday I was questioning my blogging motives.   The problem is not that my blog is all about me. (it would be hard to write it about somebody else) I love the outlet and being a verbal processor I love to share my thoughts and stuff.  In the perfect world (which looks aesthetically like 1949 in my mind) I would have neighbors to share my day with.  Our children would play, we'd hang laundry side by side, sit together on the front steps for a mid morning smoke break, ... BBQ's, play bridge...you get the picture.  That simply isn't the case these days.  Neighborhoods are full of people who do not know each other.   The attached garage means you press a button pull in and go straight into the house no need to greet your neighbors.  Children's sports, recreation and play dates are organized and away from the home.  Very few women stay home and at the end of the day there are groceries to pick up, dinner to be made, piano lessons drive to, and so forth.  All of this means we connect less and have less in common.

   Politics, economics, trends, religion, and sports are just a few of the ways we are divided and less tolerant.  Yet the bottom line is we crave community.  So here we are social networking, blogging.  The need for others is strong.  I'd love it if you all lived in my neighborhood and although we wouldn't have to be the best of friends we could be friends.  This blog is the next best thing.  The problem for me becomes the sacrifices I make for my blog. Example: Time with my children, housework, and myself.  Yes, I do sacrifice parts of myself because I want to be liked.  I try not to do too many homeschool/Montessori posts because most of my readers aren't homeschoolers, I limit how much I talk about Jesus because many people equate that with religion -which brings me to politics... well I probably wouldn't mention that anyways.   Most of my readers are into vintage clothing and lifestyle.  This drives my blog to lean that direction.  Vintage has been a main staple in my life so it isn't hard to talk about and I enjoy it.  I just have to remind myself I drive my blog not my readers.  Does that make any sense?

  I'll admit I get excited by each and every new follower and when I lose one I feel kinda bad. How much better it feels to gain followers based on the complete, total real me.

P.S.  One of my favorite readers, Shannon,  just commented that online is the new back fence.   Said perfectly!

Does Blogging Validate Me?

I just realized how vain my blog is.  It just yells "Hey!  Look at me!  I have it together.  Pretty cool aren't I?"  I mean I am vain, I love 'good' pictures of myself and I do think I have it pretty much together.  But is my need for validation so strong I need you to know it too?

That folks is the mood I am in today.  Feeling like what's it all for?  Ever feel that way?

I do get a lot of pleasure from my blog and have met some new friends.  Being home all day with little ones, it is nice to have an outlet.

I just wonder.

Okie Girl Eats: Homemade Maple Syrup

  I did a couple of different things with our pancakes this morning.  I added crumbled bacon to the batter and I made our syrup.  (I prefer Bisquick for making both pancakes and biscuits.)  I just can't bring myself to buy store bought syrup unless it is 100% pure maple syrup, and at the rate our family of goes through syrup that gets costly.  Then I was reminded by my mother of the syrup she made when I was a child.  Here is the recipe:

• 1 cup water
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp maple flavoring

Boil water, add sugar and flavor.  Serve when smooth and combined. The syrup will be more the consistency of pure maple syrup. 

 It made more than enough for our family with enough leftover for us to have 2 or 3 more times.