We are turning half the garage into a mud room and laundry room. The first step was demoing the wood paneling, sheet rock, and insulation board. There have been a lot of trips to the dump so far. Next up is starting to build!!
Here is the before of the garage:
https://gthfaith.blogspot.com/2021/02/garage-before-and-afters.html?m=1
Someone gave us two American Dolls. (Which is two more than I ever owned growing up). Though I loved playing with my friend’s Molly and always wished for a Samantha. The hair on the dolls was in terrible condition. I bought a doll brush and spent about 15 minutes combing out the tangles and it looks so much better.
Now to stow them away until the baby is 6 or 7.
I designed this runner to match some Art Deco hand towels that were on the bride’s registry. The quilting was super funky and fun.
I cut off 12” off my hair this summer and donated it. It sure is weird to have short hair. It hasn’t been this short since college and I’m missing the ease of a side braid.
The boys requested Robin Hood costumes this spring and I finally got around to making them. The middle son then wanted to be Will Scarlett. So red felt and cloth was purchased and I started on another costume. They were super easy to sew.
My sister in law loves neutral colors.
I like things bright and colorful.
I made these as neutral as I could.
Some of our cloth napkins have been wearing out after almost 13 years of daily use. So I took this tablecloth that I had purchased many years ago and never used and turned it into 12 new napkins. The bonus was that they were already half hemmed since the table cloth was hemmed.
One of my kids asked for baby chickens for Christmas. He specified that he wanted them to fit in an egg and that he could hatch them. I searched and searched for a baby chick pattern that was cute. And the only one that I could find was one that came with a pattern from ikatbag. It came with a pattern for a big chicken as well as the small one. One I saw the big chicken pictures I fell in love with it and had to make one (and then two more). I laughed out loud when I was making this chicken. I opted not to make the egg chute in the chickens (the original chicken can pop out eggs).
Picture with the baby for size.
Picture with the Christmas tree for scale.
I recently made 9 of these hats for my kids and some of their cousins. They were requested by my 9 year-old for his birthday party (that ended up being cancelled because of sick siblings). Usually I don't like mass producing projects. It gets old to make the same thing repeatedly. But this one wasn't too bad and the end result is fun.
A friend gave us this little folding chairs and they had seen a lot of love in their lifetime.
I had an old oilcloth tablecloth that someone had given me. So I added some padding and recovered the seats with oilcloth.
Is it perfect? Nope.
Would they be cuter if I repainted them and also covered the top part? Yep.
But are they functional and do my kids love to use them? Yes.
Would I actually find the time to paint them now? Nope.
Now they can actually use them and they aren't sitting around my garage gathering dust. Quick fix for the win!
I started keeping a list of the books that I read 7 years ago challenged by the Tim Challies reading challenge. I decided that I could probably read 26 books (which is one every two weeks) even with two small kids in the house. That year I read 30-some books. The following year I challenged myself to 35 books and made it into the 40s. 60 in 2018. 57 in 2019. 68 in 2020. I set my goal for 52 this year and read 62.
A few notes on this year's list:
a) My number of finished books fell slightly this year. I did finish two quilts, spent 60 hours earlier in the year helping my in-laws move, and kept a flower garden.
b) I do a ton of pre-reading of library books. I try to keep new books coming in about every 1-3 weeks in our book basket depending on the subject that we are studying. So I get a massive number of books on a subject from the library and pick the ones that are the most interesting and visually appealing. But I don't finish reading most of these books and I don't count picture books on the list.
c) The number of fiction books is still higher than I would like (23 books), but 19 of those were read to the boys (83%). Some were for school, others were just for fun (strawberry, peach and apple picking in an hour from our house and my brother lives two hours away - so we do a lot of listening while we drive). The other 4 books were the Wingfeather Series, which I pre-read to read to the boys and was disturbed by them and decided to hold off on them (I really did not like them).
d) I did not count the audio books as a separate category. I used goodreads this year (instead of a paper list) and I couldn't figure out how to record that. I use the library to download books and listen to them as we drive around.
e) John Owen tops the year as the most read author. But C.S. Lewis comes in a close second.
f) I abandoned quite a few books this year from the library due to not having enough time to finish them. I would have been really bothered by that a few years ago.
g) I used the library for 40% (down from from 45% last year) of my books. Note: The library in my town did not have some of these books, but inter-library loan did - if first you don't succeed try try again. 37% of books were ones that I already owned.
h) I only bought 2 books (that I read) this year. Down to 2% of my reading total from 15% last year.
i) I only borrowed one book from a friend this year.
j) I finished up studying the minor prophets over 10 months and have thoroughly enjoyed them and several commentaries. I would write about them in a separate post, but I doubt I will find time.
k) I include my Bible reading in here only if I finished the Old Testament (which I only read the minor prophets this year - so I did not include it in the page count) or Psalms (which I did two times) or the New Testament (which I did just did parts of). If you take those away from my book count, I only read 58 books.
2021 Best of (Favorite Books)
If I had to pick my absolute top books of the year I would have to go with these. The Glory of Christ was my absolute favorite the rest are in no apparent order:
1. The Glory of Christ - John Owen
2. Parenting by God's Promises: How to Raise Children in the Covenant of Grace - Joel Beeke
3. Love Came Down at Christmas: Daily Readings for Advent - Sinclair B. Ferguson
4. Parenting with Words of Grace: Building Relationships with Your Children One Conversation at a Time - William P. Smith
5. Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament - Mark Vroegop
And these books I liked, but not quite enough to make it on the favorites of the year, but they all excellent books, if you choose to read them:
13. Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age
14. The Annotated Treasure Island
15. Charlotte's Web
16. Swallowdale (Swallows and Amazons, #2)
17. Paddington Helps Out (Paddington, #3)
18. The One Year Praying Through the Bible for Your Kids - Guthrie
2021 CHILDREN’S BOOKS
In previous years I wrote down how many books I read to my kids from a few months and Extrapolated out the data. However, this number is definitely increased this past year as we have focused on having a book basket that is stocked with whatever subject we are studying in school. It averaged out to 5-10 a day.
I also do a bunch of pre-reading/skimming of books for the boys to read and for history. I've finally gotten used to picking out books on the libraries website and have found it is easier than going in person with 4 lively children. Also, our library partners with about 10 other libraries and so their website allows me to see and pick out those books as well. I still spent entirely too long on the library's web page looking for interesting children's books. But I have learned to appreciate this service, while still missing browsing the library shelves in-person.
I have noticed that the quality of children's books has dramatically decreased recently. There are so many computer animated books and books based on tv shows. They have boring plots, terrible dialogue, and ugly illustrations.
Extrapolated out this equals about 2000 - 4000 children's books.
I made this quilt for something different. They aren't my favorite colors. But it was a fun quilt to make.
hello, from one of the kids' stuffed animals.
All stowed away and ready to quilt.
This is how much binding I had left over. It was so close to being not enough.
Finished!
Hobbits or Elves are visiting today. I made the boys' cloaks and they are constantly being used for all sorts of things. I love them.
One of my friends told me that her favorite bag had gotten old and worn out. She said she wished she could have a new one. She loves sailing and all things nautical. I had the perfect fabrics in my scrap bin!
I added two pockets on the inside after she mentioned that she loses her keys in her bag.
Sneak peak of the Bee Quilt I made this year in the background of this picture. :)
This little pencil case was made for a niece's pirate themed birthday. The boys picked out the fabric.
(I have since made 5 other pencil cases for the boys and it is one of the most useful things I have made. We use them all the time for school and church).
I started a new quilt. I've always wanted to make a 1930s feedsack quilt. I'll post pictures when I finish.
Years ago Jared bought me the complete collection for Calvin and Hobbes and we also have a few extra smaller collections around. The boys have discovered them recently and laugh and laugh and laugh. Also, it does my heart good to see the boys reading to each other. It is sweet.
