Spicy Sweet-Potato Fries!

By popular demand, here is the recipe for our famous and delicious
Spicy Sweet-Potato Fries:

Preheat oven to 450
Place 1 Large Sweet Potato, peeled and cut into shoe-strings (1/4" strips)
in a Large Ziplock Bag.
Add:
Some Olive Oil
Lots of Salt and Pepper
Lots of Chili Powder
Some Cumin
Lots of Red Pepper Flakes
Lots of Tabasco/Hot Sauce
Some Sriracha HOT Chili Sauce (found in our "foreign foods" section)

Seal bag, shake 'til evenly coated.
Spread evenly on a baking sheet.
Cook for 10 minutes, stir/flip, then for an additional 10 minutes (or until warm and soft all the way through).

Janie calls them "Fire fries," but I think they could be hotter. Found a way to improve my recipe? Let me know!
-DAve

Try Chai with policy

I am writing my last paper for Social Policy in North America. Challenging, life changing. I wrote a little reflection here, but cut it away because I changed my mind about posting it for today.

Instead wanted to share with you a little beverage that is pulling me through my paper writing morning: Homemade Chai Tea (yeah, I know, so 2000... the fad has come and gone, but I'm right there again)Chai Tea (from better homes and gardens)
1 black tea bag
1 3-inch piece of cinnamon stick
2 cups milk
2 Tbsp raw sug or honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp ground ginger (i used about 1 tsp chopped fresh ginger)
1/8 tsp ground cardamom (i used 3 pods)

In a small saucepan combine tea bag, cinnamon stick and 1/2 cup water. Bring to boil. Remove from heat. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Remove and discard tea bag. Add and stir together all other ingrediants. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture is heated through (do not boil).
That's the original recipe. I actually added my fresh ginger and cardamom in the beginning, and left them in till the end. I brought mine to a boil with everything and then let it simmer for a minute. I wanted lots of kick!

Corrina was doing some lovely posing for me this weekend. (Notice the hair clips Claire, and the shirt Rachel! Thanks!)
And then in came dad, and out came the tongue!
Corrina went to a really neat birthday party this weekend and had her face painted like a princess! This was her request!
Cute and disturbing all at the same time.
I have planned my vegetable and cutting garden for the summer. Photos to come.

A time to Breathe

Janie here. I've had a weekend to breathe. I have one more paper coming due, and one exam to prep for, but I decided I needed at least ONE day where I did not do any school work. I try to carve in at least 1 hour a min a day, and I usually end up being so busy that it gets pushed to the late hours, leaving me constantly warn out and tired. I thought having one day where my mind was free from constantly trying to fit in a study time would be refreshing. It was!

We had a great weekend, and I have some photos to share later. But, for now, off to get morning chores and errands done, hopefully followed by an afternoon stroll in the park, with a snow suit on!

Good days to all!

Humpty Dumpty

These days Humpty Dumpty is a regular feature in the house. But what do you do when you don't have any King's Men figures to come to the rescue? When you're Dave, you improvise. How many can you recognize?

One Proud media-saturated Daddy

The other night Corrina reached a major milestone, and I couldn't be more proud. The three of us were sitting around in the living room, doing nothing in particular and getting kinda silly. I turned to Janie and for no particular reason said "I've got a FEVER...and the only prescription...is more COWBELL!"

And Janie said "More Cowbell!"

And, not wanting to be left out, and obviously recognizing the comedic perfection, Corrina chimed in, "More Cowbell!"

"More Cowbell! " said I.
"MORE COWBELL!! yelled Corrina, no doubt delighted with simplicity of the humor and the joyful ease of repetition.

Chants of More Cowbell echoed gloriously throughout our home until we all fell apart in a fit of giggles.

So here's one for the books: Corrina's first Saturday Night Live reference! I'm so proud!

changed again

This is so silly, this changing blog process. So, i like the title and idea, but just couldn't do the darker colors. I liked the blue and tried to lighten it up, but as it was a template I couldn't change the background color for the life of me... so I am going greenish for awhile until I see something I like more I suppose. But, I think I can tweak this one here and there, and then I will be happy.

Here is a green post that I am loving.

Things I am loving

Sun streaming onto clean dishes.
Home made yogurt and new thrifted dishes
Sweet Potato fries (but, season with olive oil and spices or Italian dressing and Parmesan cheese, bake in 450 oven for 20 minutues)
The different activities happening on our counter top!
Corrina's Bento Breakfast!

Jazzed

Lately I have been spending alot of my 'internet time' browsing here. I think the spring cleaning bug is coming on for me, although we are months away from spring still. I can't help but want things to look organized and tidy. And of course, I have three papers due quite soon, so nothing does look neat and tidy. That an a strange compulsion to buy plants, all the time, whenever I see them.

So when my mind needs a break I head over that place I linked up above, and today I found there that I swear I have always known existed, but could never find... just like those tribe people you hear about from Wycliff translator stories, where they go to a remote tribe and find people worshipping a God of some sort and when they translate enough words to tell the people about english the people say "that's who we've been worshipping".
JUST LIKE THAT!

So, Dave is going to make me this, and this, in a row, in our kitchen, to perfectly fit our space! I have the plans hung on my shabby little bulliten board beside me. They are written on hot pink paper...pretty.... oh, the times they will be a changing!

Do you have the Spring cleaning bug, or stuff that gets rid of bugs and makes things clean instead?

Amazing find

We hit the thrift store today after speech therapy to see if we could find some jungle animals to continue to expand Corrina's vocab in the games we play.
Of course, I had to look through the housewares section, and I found THESE amazing, beautiful cups & sauces! Follow the link, I don't have a picture yet.
I instantly thought "Scandinavian" even before I flipped the bottom up to see what the pattern was called. Nordic. Perfect! I love them, I want them, but am I being silly? I bothered Dave, who was digging through giant tubs of mcdonald toys and figurines looking for giraffes and tigers, and I think he got sick of hearing me say "should I? Am I being silly? I already have a dishes... they are pretty, but are they pretty enough for $13.00 for 16 pieces?" I decided that I would regret not buying them, and would probably bother Dave more talking about how I wish I had brought them home.
So, I bought them.
Tonight when I went online to see what the other dishes look like, I saw a more accurate price: one cup and saucer ranges anywhere from $10-35!
Thank Sally Anne!

Perfect days

Perfection is subjective, but for us, at this time in the year, I think we had just about the perfect weekend. But, there are two funny things with this: one, we didn't do anything out of the ordinary, but the time just felt perfect. Two, Dave was gone for the whole weekend. I feel so bad saying that, and it certainly was not part of the perfection of the time. It would have been better if he were here, none the less, we had a great weekend! Please don't judge me...

Corrina and I hit our children's museum on Friday morning. We decided to buy a membership pass because they are very well priced. I think we have payed it off already with the 3 or 4 times we've been. At this age Corrina just doesn't get bored with it. In fact, she get's more excited about it every time we go. Love that!

I think the most perfect thing was making it through the grocery store without any fits or run aways. Corrina is the type of gal who just loves a good chase. It's just thrilling to her, and once she gets going she is the hardest little thing to catch because she's pretty sure it's a game, right down to the very upset momma assuring her that I do not feel the same way. But, this did not happen on our last shopping trip, and I still can't believe it. After helping me bag all the produce, she walked along, holding the side of the cart for the rest of the grocery trip. I'm sure she was sick of hearing me say "Corrina, it's good that you are holding the cart while we shop! I feel happy when you hold on and stay close." (They say praise the good behaviour you want to see more than the bad you don't want. She doesn't like this change, it's just not as thrilling at the troubmle attention, which means it works!) Anyway, I am defining moments like that as making my weekend perfect!

On Saturday night we had our little friend and his family over for an impromptu birthday dinner for him, and my gosh was it delicious. I made my own ricotta cheese for a roasted vegtable lasagne. We followed this up with the most amazing carrot cake I've ever had, topped with whipped cream-cream cheese frosting. The cake recipe came from my looney spoons cook books, which if you haven't checked out (ie. read, or checked-out from the library, either one) after hearing me rant about them for at least 3 posts, than I don't know what to say to you. Maybe I'm doing a bad job at convincing you... you tell me! Anyway, lovely super, lovely cake, and here are a few recipes.

Ricotta Cheese
2L Milk (whole, 2 %, I used 1%)
1 cup heavey cream (whipping cream, 35%)
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp lemon juice
Mix together first three ingredients in sauce pot over moderate heat until this comes to a rolling boil. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. This can take a long time if you're bringing it up to a boil slowly. Be patient, it will pay off. Once boiling, add lemon juice. Reduce heat to low, and stir for 2-5 minutes, until the mixture has curdled. Line a sieve with cheese cloth, or thin, clean, tea towel, and place over a bowl to catch the drippings/whey/butter milk. Slowly pour all contents from pot into lined sieve, and allowed to strain until all liquid has dripped through. In the sieve you have your ricotta cheese, and in the bowl you have buttermilk. Ricotta cheese lasts for 2-3 days. Not sure about the holding time for the butter milk.

(I think we are eating yogurt on our valentines pancakes, so it relates!)

Hope you get a chance to try this out. I loved the results, plus the money saved (at least here in MB, ricotta cheese is ridiculously expensive). I am still meaning to make yogurt, (or here) but keep forgetting to buy a thermometer to get the temps right. I don't have a yogurt machine to keep things at a consistent temp, but I have read some different ideas about ways to incubate the yogurt. I have one friend who rigs up her crock pot in a funny way to create her own yogurt maker machine. Might try that, or this. Yogurt making, and maybe ricotta cheese making too, seem like the easiest homemade things to do in the WORLD. If only I had a cow, I would be set! But then, it wouldn't be so easy, would it!? (I heard on the radio that someone has combined !? into it's own punctuation mark called the interrobang... what do you think? )



Dave gave me a beautiful, fragrant hyacinth earlier this week. It has fully blossomed and is such a lovely reminder that in certain places of the country many people are about to enjoy the new life of spring. We won't for a more months outside, but at least I can enjoy the colors and smells in my kitchen!

I think the weekend will end in perfect as well, when Dave returns home tonight (and I have to shove him off because I am working on my overdue homework!) At least he will be home.
Ha, gotta love life!

This May Work

I thought Dave would like this template, and then as I starred at it I began to like it too. Very different than what I set out looking for.

The title: It's weird to change a blog title. It's the name by which everyone recognizes us online. But, here's the deal. I heard the phrase "hello star shine, the earth says hello" in the Willy Wonka Movie with Johnny Depp, and thought it was hilarious. I did not know it was part of a song (that I don't really like at all). I think there was sorta a second title to our blog as well, or maybe it was the first and the above was the second. Whatever it was, Growing Like the Lilies, was neat, but I am a creature of change, so I thought I would take advantage of the overall change to throw a new title out there too. Hope I don't mess any of you up too much, trying to change your links and such. We are still here, just with a different name (until I get restless again!). My link list is totally suffering from this change too, so if you don't see your blog listed, and feel a little hurt by this, please know that I am adding more blogs and have not intentionally taken you off the blogroll.

The title may sound intergalactic, but I assure you, it's not. It's actually literary. It's the name of my favorite book when I was 12. Wow, its strange to look that far back in life and realize how impacted I was, at such a young age, by this piece of literature. I think the book really awakened, or maybe spurred and encouraged, my interest in truly learning to know people for who they are. If you have an evening (because seriously, as an adult, that is all it will take you to read this book) give it a shot. It's cute, insightful, hilarious, and a little sad. It might take you back to a certain age of identity development too, when some of your very own values began to surface.

The poem I've stuck up under the title also comes from that same year in life. My grade 7 teacher asked us to memorize a few pieces of literature. I was the only person in the class who did. I've always had a knack for memorizing poems. This is it, and to this day I cannot express my gratitude for the experience of knowing this poem.

I think, for me, the collaboration of the book and this poem encompass some of my deepest values in life: to know, and be known, non-judgmentally, gently. This is how I approach most things I do: work, marriage, parenting, friendships, sustainable living. If you can name it, I am probably trying to get inside of it, to see what it's like to walk two moons in another mans moccasins. If I can do this, than I believe change and hope are boundless.

What Happened

My pretty, self created, learned-html-just-to-do-it, template is gone now, and dots are in it's spot. I loved my old template, but it was in the old blogger style and I really wanted to update to the new style that has fun widgets, rotating blog lists, and just way more options. So, it had to go for the time being. For now, until I can get something else happening on here, all my side bars are gone. Looks pretty boring in this space! But, something fun is coming, I hope!
I spent way too much precious time trying to upload a new template, but I kept getting error messages. So, by the time I went to bed my blog template was still not up and running, my dishwasher was not emptied, my laundry was not put away, and my homework was not done. Oh, to have endless time to watse without consequence. But, then, if had nothing else pressing to do the act of wasting time just wouldn't be enjoyable. I really only enjoy time spent procrastinating. Anyone else out there like this? Where can I get help!?

Last night Dave had a friend over to play a game. It was fabulous, and I think we really ought to make more time for him to play games with friends. This may sound altruistic of me, thinking of my husbands needs for social interaction and friendship, but I will reveal that my motives are actually selfish. Dave was sleeping on the couch, the house was a mess, and his friend was coming over in 2 hours. I decided that I would let him sleep (headache) and take Corrina out to the thrift store with me. I wondered what might happen while I was away... but said nothing as we left.
When we came home the house was clean, laundry put in it's proper place (ie down by the machine or upstairs in the bedroom, as opposed to the middle of the living room floor), dishes cleaned up, toys picked up, pretty lights alit, and Dave waiting calmly on the couch with time to spare! Yes DAve, I see many more game nights in your future!

I'm pretty sure that Corrina believes she runs an orphanage most days. Like many little people, girls and boys alike, Corrina loves to play with other children, alive or plastic. Her favorite thing is to put them to sleep. She lines them up, pats their backs, sings songs, reads book, and then gets comfortable and sits to make sure they stay asleep. Dave got caught up in the fun this one afternoon, and like any good little baby he had a nice long nap while Corrina and I moved onto more important things like hanging pictures and making music. Who says only deaf babies sleep through loud noises!
We have made it out ice skating on the world's longest river trail only once this year. Corrina did very well on her skates, and managed to hold her own weight most of the time. She tried gliding on her own, which of course looked more like a walk-shuffle-fall, but she tried it on her own!


We have officially declared Monday to be Soup Day at our house. We have so many things going on that day, with different people coming and going at different times thus needing to eat at different times. I was tired of trying to squeeze in a super time, so we just decided on take-it-when-you-need-it soup. We have tried tons of fantastic soup recipes, mostly from this book (so I don't think I can write them out here, copy right laws and all). This just might be the best change we have made this winter. I want more soup nights! Easy to prepare, nutritious, mostly light on the budget, and comfortingly warm.
Just last night I made a Roasted sweet potatoe with ginger and orange soup. We made sour cream heart designs in the thick, flavorful puree.
I think my favorite so far has been a soup called Thai One On. It has lots of vegtables, including sweet potatoes (did you know the Canadian food guide recommends eating at least one serving of an orange vegtable and one of a dark green every day. That's hard to do some days, but not with soup!) red peppers, celery, coconut milk, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, some pureed, some left chunky. To finish it off you add shrimp! Wow, this is the most delicious (and one of the more costly) soups we've made! If you have the Eat, Shrink, and be Merry cookbook, you'll find this recipe there. If you are just dying to know how to make this, leave me a comment and I can email you the recipe.
So, if you are making soup, you most definately need to have some sort of warm bread to accompany it. Sometimes we make our own Tortilla dippers by cutting up flat bread, brushing it with a mixture of 1tbsp olive oil, 1tbsp butter mixed with garlic and herbs, and baking the pieces at 350 for 10 minutes. Amazing! Other times we just grab buns from our local organic bakery. And of course, when time allows, we mix up our own home made biscuits.
But, you see, I've always struggled with biscuits. I either don't like them because they are all white flour, have too much butter and fat, come out tasting like baking powder, are just a little too crunchy, or are perfect and soft on the outside, but soggy in the middle. Wow, it must sound like I am an awful buscuit maker! Some days I am, most days it's just the refined aspects of buscuits that gets me down. But, turning again to our faithful friends Janet and Greta, Corrina and I wiped up what will now be the go-to buscuit recipe in our home. This one I will share...with full credits to Crazy Plates cookbook.
Takin' Care of Biscuits (melt in your mouth whole wheat and cheddar biscuits)
Preheat oven to 425
Gather all children who enjoy dumping, stirring, rolling, cutting and making a mess

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
Mix this together in a large bowl
Stir in 1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese (i used parmesan because we were out of cheddar)

Using a pastry cutter, or your fingers:
cut in 3 tbsp butter of margarine

Next combine:
1 cup buttermilk (to make mix 1 tbsp lemon juice and fill remaining space in measuring cup up to the 1 cup mark with milk)
1 tsp honey


Add this to dry ingredients. Using a fork stir to form a soft dough. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface, form into a ball, and roll out to 3/4 inch. Cut into circle (or hearts!). Place onto sprayed cookie sheet. bake for 10-12 minutes or until biscuits have puffed up and are golden.
These biscuits turn out very soft and moist, almost like a freshly made bun, while at the same time retaining the ease and size of a biscuit!

A New direction

I have often wanted to take this blog in a new direction lately.  As many of you know I am in school, studying social work.  I have decided not to be at home full time with Corrina right now.  I do feel that this is what God has called me to do with life right now, but the sacrifice is challenging, even painful some days.  I am thankful that I still have the majority of the week in and around the house, but even those days are filled with attempts to read, study and write.  You know how school is, you can never consciously escape the work lingering in your mind.  This is the most challenging balancing act I have ever attempted, but I like it.  It is building character, knowledge, patience, and respect.    

I have been doing a wonderful practicum at a local agency that focuses on supporting families in a number of ways.  Through my practicum experience I have been exposed to/ taught some of the most wonderful parenting/living theories I have ever encountered.  They just fit, they make sense with every child development and growth idea, and take a holistic approach to relationship development.  I've been given the opportunity to attend fascinating workshops and seminars, and in general have had a new look at the social and political world around me.  It's hard to contain the new information I have learned as just 'school', 'training' or 'career related' because the majority of it has to do with the struggles of parenting, living in within a minimal means, and coping with life while taking steps to change ones situation.  All of these things apply to my family!  The ideas move from being theories to becoming personal experiences of life.

I have been contemplating incorporating some of the perspectives, ideas, and theories that have impacted me at a personal level through the work I do into my blog posts.  I wonder if anyone would read it, how it might be perceived, if I could really explain the depths of ideas in my mind, or if I would be snagged for plagiarism (oh, don't worry I know how to properly cite other authors works, however when you've just finished a 25 page paper the last thing you want to do it make another proper reference!).  

I really don't have very many 'mothering' stories to share, play dates to post about,  or beautiful house pictures to post these days.  I still love all those parts of life but for me they are not a part of life right now, and that is just fine!  That's just not where I am these days.  (Although I do realize that a Corrina speech update might be appreciated by far away family... that will be coming! ) 

So, I've been thinking of going in a new direction.  At this point I will just keep thinking and see what develops.  

A staple, but not a staple, a granola

So, I have been making a great granola recipe for about a month now and keep meaning to share it, but haven't had a moment. I don't actually have a moment right now, I am at that point in the semester where every minute counts, and every minute not used reading, or thinking, or thinking about reading is wasted.

But my eyes are ready to fall out of my head and roll around the floor, if that conveys that I am tired. My typing babbling will convey that I am tired if my really horrible description of my eyes doesn't.

Here is the fat free granola recipe I found. I was over the top excited because I hate all the oil in granola. I just won't do it. But we love granola, dave, Corrina and I, so I had to find something.

The recipe is from here, but I will type it out again, and add my thoughts. You should go to the other website because they have pictures, where as I am too tired to press the on button on the camera and take a picture of my fresh granola. I will now turn and look at it on your behalf, but that's all your getting tonight.

So, recipe:

450ml rolled oats (quick cooking, but not instant... as least quick cooking as you can find, maybe normal even.. they say quick cooking leaves a startchy taste when baked into granola, and I actualy found this to be true)

60 ml sun flower seeds (not deshelled from your mouth and than spat out)

120 ml sesame seeds

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

100 ml brown sugar (I use splenda brown sugar blend because, because I do...)

150ml of almond slivers

100 ml hazelnuts chopped (I just add more almonds)

1 tsp salt

*option: I add about 1/4-1/2 c. of wheat germ

*mix all that in a bowl! Yippy*

Now mix this in another bowl, or if you're a cheater like me just mix it all together in your glass pyrex cup

175 ml apple sauce

120 ml corn syrup (I hate that this is in here, and usualy try to take some out. Seems to work fine with a little less, maybe 100 ml instead. Any ideas for alternatives?)

4 Tbsp runny honey (I didn't have any tonight and the batch came out great, so skip this is you are cutting our excess sugar.. or keep this in and take out more corn syrup)

*mix all this into the dry, plop it on a baking sheet, nice and flat. You can even squish it a little with your spatula. Kinda fun.

Now bake it in a 350 oven, for 30-40 minutes, stirring every ten minutes. Make sure you work the edge bits into the middle, so they don't get scorched.

For me this is enough to fill only one cookie sheet, but if you fill two, or double the batch than switch the cookie sheets around with the stirring.

Watch the granola closely and when it starts to brown all over just leave it out of the oven. it may look a little wet still, but it gets very crunchy once it sits. So many lovely clusters too!

Once it's cooled, stir in about a cup of raisins, or crasins, whichever you like. Or you could do chopped dried apricots. I think I'll do that next week!

Seriously, I am never buying store bought again, or making any granola with oil in it. This stuff is amazing.

In other news, Dave is putting together a brand new bed frame we found at a thrift store. We had to do some piecing, but for the most part it looks great! I have never had a bed frame before. We've been sleeping on a mattress on the floor for a year, no box spring, no joke! The spring doesn't fit up our stairs. I can't wait to be up off the dang floor! I should go supervise now...

I am thinking about changing our blog template, but don't know where to find something neat to switch to. Any ideas?

Corrina's 3rd Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Corrina!

I can't believe that you are three!

Today we celebrated Corrina's Third birthday with her first birthday party! Here are a few pictures and videos:
The cake recipe is from here, the icing is from the back of the bag, and the shapes are Starbursts rolled out and cut into shapes, which I learned about from here. Hmmm, I can taste it now! Delicious!

House Tour: Installment One

Installment One: Corrina's Craft Corner

I have neglected to provide a real house tour since we moved into our place almost a year ago. I have always meant to, but felt that things were never really decorated and in place. Slowly we have been getting there, so here is a mini series I will be doing. It won't be a once a week guaranteed post. Rather, it will follow a schedule of rooms that are clean and I have time to photograph!

I am just so thrilled about this new space I created for Corrina so I thought I would start my tour with Corrina's Craft Corner

Here is a link note: You can also see this craft corner development here, at Flickr.

Otherwise, let the tour begin.

This is Corrina's new little craft corner/space! The table and chairs, as well as the white shelf are from Ikea. I've been hoping for a space like this for about 10 years, either for myself, or my child. I finally had the time and energy to put it together tonight, but it has taken a lot of forethought. I bought the white shelf about 2 years ago. We do not live near an ikea so our trips to ikea are very premeditated. I loved this shelf the minute I saw it in the catalog, picked it up when we were at the store, and stuck it in my basement until I had the perfect spot for it. Originally it was to be used for organizing deskish things by out computer, but as soon as our daughter became interested in crafting I instantly reallocated it's use to her space. It's perfect!


The "Corner"
I surprised myself when I found that we did not even have enough displayable craft items (that we wanted at Corrina's reach) to fill the shelves! I like it this way though.
Some orange juice containers covered in wrapping paper, are helping corral felt pens (markers, I am told), and glue sticks. The top shelf has some foam beads that we string and string again, and of course pencil crayons for those days when fat markers are just too cumbersome.

What better way to organize and ikea shelf than with Ikea plastic bins! There are little pads of paper slid in beside a tub of crayons and a tub of foam & Dora stickers. The tops shelf has an unopened christmas present and a christmas tag (aka I had nothing to put here).
Why the heck is there an unopened Christmas present still linger around? For Christmas I did a craft supplies stocking and this little parcel just got skipped over in the enamorement with glitter!
I love jars. Always have, always will. Corrina will also love them by the time I am done with her! Inside: googly eyes, star and circle sequins, a glitter shapes shaker, and of course buttons!
Above I've hidden some small things away in tins: pompoms, glitter containers, mini clothes pegs, and stick on jewels. There is also a little box of beads with elastic string and pipe cleaners, for those jewelry making days when Corrina just has to have a new necklace to go with her dress-up outfit.
The smallest jars I have ever seen came from an English hotel Grandma and Grandpa stayed at. These were the jams for the morning breakfast. I think Grandma shoved a few extra's in her pocket knowing we would all love them!
I love that in North America we get plastic jam packets, and in England they get real little glass jars. I think I'm moving!
I found child sized ripply/zig-zag/wavy/scalloped (whatever the decorative ones are called) scissors at the dollar store. Corrina can actually cut with them, whereas I can hardly shut my adult sized ones sometimes. Maybe I need some new ones...
Scissors are out of her reach here because I am all about prevention: prevention of hair cuts, random re upholstery, baby doll surgery, wall carvings, manicures, and purposeless cutting up of fun foam, the most likely to actually occur.
It's about prevention people.
I love how easy it was to use wrapping paper to glue around this recycled orange juice container. The paper was already curled up from living around a tube, so it naturally conformed!
Nothing new here really, just age old reuse and beautifying!

It's just so pretty I can't stop looking, although you're most likely thinking "I can!!" Tough Toast.


We use the space around shelf to hang up art from home, daycare, and other activities. You can't see it very well here, but the paper on the very right wall is a "seasons" mural Corrina and I paint together each season. It's a great way to teach Corrina some must-know vocabulary, show her letters and words, teach her things that go together, learn about weather, and inspire our other art projects. The list is endless really.

We painted this boring, white, press board shelf red when were first married. Actually, I was pregnant, and Dave was using tremclad because the lovely lady at the hardware store said that this would really be the only paint that would stick to a press board, melamine coated shelf. This was the worst painting experience ever. The priming sucked, the painting was awful and gooey, the clean up was horrific, and I had to stay out of the picture, in the bedroom, the entire time so as not to poison our unborn child with fumes.
This shelf started as my craft cupboard, transitioned into a pantry in our second apartment, and has regained it's original purpose of holding all things craft related.

Yes, I know, everything is red. I had a red organizing theme in our last place. This handy little basket hold alot of fun foam, some papers, and a few coloring books. Corrina is oblivious to it for the most part, until the scissors come out. She is a cutting maniac. This is not the best way to store this stuff, but it's working for now!
The craft corner exists within our dinning room. Such an odd little nook just needed to be filled with a place to create.
This is the little crafter herself. Of course, she is not crafting in this photo!

Or in this one.
Or in this one.
Or this one.
Like I could leave these adorable photos out!
This is how she feels about not crafting! Actually, this was her pulling a fake frown for the picture. The other similar picture of her above is the joy she experienced after pulling a fake frown!

Okay, here is a photo of the space in use.


Well, that is one little section of our house! Tour completed! I hope you are inspired, or at least in awe of me. Either is fine. Don't you think I should be included on this website? I do! Maybe they will discover me!

A Christmas of the Muppety Kind

Hope you enjoy 'em! To be continued...