rain, rain....here to stay?

some little people I know
are so happy about all this rain
they can hardly keep their feet on the ground

not for the weary

Grey skies...drizzle....rain....
.....heavy rain.....clouds....
..........more rain again.....
......mud.....
.......some people would have called it a day.

The rest of us, however, simply put on our wellies, raincoats and hats and got on with it!

A path to the playground was in need and that's just what we got busy creating.

Don't think we could have done it without the effort of hands both large....




and small.....




The best part is that nobody asked the little ones to help - they just saw what was going on, picked up tools and got busy contributing as best they could. Bless.
Must be Montessori children.

~~
Oops. forgot to take a shot of the finished path....
sometimes the process is more important than the product.

fall found me

a gift

I'm wondering if giving a gift can be selfish? Actually, yes, I suppose it can in a 'here's a book that you ought to read' kind of a way. And I thought for a minute it might be in this instance, but then I promptly recanted. You see, I so enjoyed creating this little guy below that I thought surely it couldnt bring more joy to the person I was giving it to than it did to me making it. But it seems I might have been wrong. Seems my joy in making it led to her joy in receiving it and then her two daughters joy in using it. Goodness breeds goodness - and that just feels good.

Here's the story, albeit brief and seemingly inconsequential: I love great tablecloths. The slightly faded florals (gasp, I know, April likes the florals...) the geometric pattern trim - the fact that you just know somebody has served up a heaping portion of mashed potatoes or fresh baked cobbler and ice cream while one of them was spread out over the dinner table surrounded by hungry kids and moms and dads. Unknowingly, I've amassed quite a collection of them from my own family over the years.

However, as much as I seem to love them, I don't actually seem to love to use them as they were intended. Actually, most often I prefer to see them all folded up nicely ironed and in a stack rather than spread out over a table. Open the closet and ah, they just look so nice in there folded and ready for something (self-diagnosed OCD NOS step aside). Preferring a more clean look when I set a table, I've taken to giving some of these tablecloths a new life....

I was admiring one the other day when I noticed the linen had been washed so many times that a hole had emerged. A tablecloth no more....a reason to sew!

So I took this.....

and created this....

It made the perfect birthday gift for a mother of two little girls. Might end up holding hair ties, headbands, socks, tights, washcloths....you name it. But whaterver they end up keeing in there will sure look sweet.

Now I just need to make another one to hold spare plastic bags for my little guys at school....

a need

Talk about a need. THIS is a need. To hear the rain fall on this enormous roof is quite a wonderful experience. It's loud and heavy and alive and just invites you out to the huge floor to ceiling windows to have a look. Unfortunately, at the moment, all that water is funneling down into this downspout and just flooding out into the grass and doing nothing other than creating a temporary river for Artemus. (Who is Artemus? More on him later...)

So, we need to get busy and make a rain barrel for the little ones. Not just a regular one, but one with a hand pump so they can draw water and carry it just over to the garden and tend the winter squash and pumpkins and wildflowers. One that looks a little reminiscent of something like this.



More on the success of this adventure hopefully sooner than later...

You're excited about what??

It’s just amazing when things fall into place. Tells you that you are doing things right in your life. And today, the thing I did right is going to help 7 little ones. And from my feedback thus far it has made for 14 happy parents... Who knew cotton underpants and a diaper service to boot could make so many people so happy? Yes. I'm excited about cotton underpants.

Nosing around Nashville for a diaper service that offered cotton underpants didn’t take all that long. My search yielded all of one single company – “Smile, Mommy!”. It seems Pippa and her crew serve all of Nashville and the surrounding area's diaper service needs. They’ve been picking up a good deal of business and have plans in the works to open a store over on 8^th Ave. Good on them, can't wait to check it out!

Their product is great – they have many options, but the ones we've opted to use in the toddler community at our school are super soft with a built in waterproof outer shell. They look quite comfy that I foresee the little guys delighting in starting their day by taking of their heavy diapers and sliding on a pair of these! Wish us luck....

yes, please

What if your day started by enjoying these little guys?

And then you walked along this hallway...

....peered through this door....

....saw the morning sunlight waking up this cozy corner...

...and shining upon these shelves
that you'd helped to sand and varnish the previous week?

And then what if you met these two
fabulous little ones
perched so comfortably upon tiny chairs?

And then what if on your drive home
you were to pass these hungry fellows?

Not such a shabby routine to gristle into, right?