If O! prah can have her lists, so can I!
Seasonal Lists of things you might also enjoy as much as I do, without the Oprah price tags (or any price tags)!
Spring:
- Handknitted Dishcloths and Soap Caddies: I do not need to continue to wax on about the ball band cloth, but in the words of the Mason Dixon Knitting ” Must…use…the….handknits…!” Also, I love their “Mason-Dixon Washcloth”, strung up with a ribbon and a bar of soap enclosed inside. I have one in my shower, and you just scrub up with it, cloth and all! Check out their blog or their first book “Mason Dixon Knitting” for the pattern!
- Mother Earth News: If you are not already accquainted with this magazine, then WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? It is an invaluable magazine subscription, especially for people who are urban homesteading, or thinking about it. Get your copy today!
- Compost: Dear husband took me out to lunch today since the kids aren’t here and our local hip burger shop was delicious as usual. I noticed while we were eating that they have introduced their soft drinks in compostable plastic cups made of corn! I took mine home to try it out in my heap! Our compost heap is amazing. You could say it started when we first moved here. We rarely did a stitch of yard work for the first three years or so because the house was all consuming by itself, especially with me always being pregnant or having a baby! So we just threw all the yard debris in to a huge heap every year and did nothing else. Well, it has taken more “shape” the last few years, and we have started composting our household junk as well for about 3 years now, and now we add to that our chicken manure…and voila, we have OUTSTANDING composted soil now! Steve has been busy transporting it around the yard on the weekends to the places we will be planting this year and it is black and rich and beautiful!
- www.Ravelry.com I had initially learned about this site through (what else) the SL forums, but y dear Knitting Mentor encouraged me to really use it, and WOW! You can salivate over stash, peruse patterns and chit chat online and it even helps you inventory all your stuff, like needles and yarns, etc. What a knitting and crocheting paradise!
- John Adams- The HBO miniseries I watched this 7 hour masterpiece while lounging around and knittting over the last week or two and it really intrigued me. I really need to read the book, but I highly reccommend the movie! Starring : Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney as John and Abigail Adams.
Winter
- Audiobooks: We are huge fans of books on tape or CD of all kinds. We often borrow them from our local library, and occassionally buy the ones we love. When the kids are in the car we try to look for kids books that will interest the adults too. When Steve and I travel alone, we like to pick adult non-fiction that we will both enjoy. On our last trip to the ADK’s in July, we listened to the History of Baseball, which we both really enjoyed. Currently we are listening in the car with the kids to the story of Louis Braille. Try audiobooks instead of a DVD for your next family trip, and I think you will be enriched by the result!
- Oat Groats: Oat groats are so much more yummy as oatmeal than the flat dry flakes you find in the store. I buy mine so that I can sometimes mill them into flour, and other times eat them as oatmeal. The oat groat is the berry-like seed head of the oat plant, like the wheatberry is to wheat. When processed into flakes it loses most of its natural nutritional value, except for still being a good source of fiber. When whole and cooked or ground into flour, you may then eat it and benefit from all its nutrients, and also feel more full. To eat them as oatmeal, soak them first overnight. then cook them till soft, but not so mushy that they lose their shape. Int this form, they are like whole soft kernels that can be seperated, and you can dress them as you like!
- ADK By Owner: This is a great website where we have searched for properties as well as vacation accommodations. Earlier in 2008 we found the Highland Cottage through this site, and we are so glad we did! The great thing about the Adirondacks is the year round beauty and activity. The winter there is every bit as awesome as the summer. So if you are looking for a wonderful rental opportunity or a second home, ADK by Owner can help you get started!
- Homemade Coffee/Tea Cup Cozy: Most of us don’t need to be told that if we reduced waste by utilizing reusable cups at our local coffee shop, we’d be doing the planet a favor. My environmental advisor, Melinda, once gave me a statistic on just how great the savings would be, but I am at a loss now. Regardless, you could also help the planet out by using a homemade cup cozy rather than a cardboard one! My mom is making these via quilting as christmas gifts this year, and I have seen patterns for knitted ones as well. Try this as a simple homemade christmas gift yourself, and you’ll be doing everyone a favor, even your pocketbook!
- Knitting Patterns that are Quick! I made two wonderful ski hats for my daughter and I, with earflaps and cute little tassles in just two days of intermittent knitting this week! They are made frmo baby alpaca and oh so soft! I had made the same hats last winter for Steve and Breslin and now I just need to get one made up for Niall….but luckily, I can make a great hat with this pattern in no time at all! Don’t you love that kind of nearly instant gratification!
- The Slow-Cooker: I recently lent a good friend my Gooseberry Patch Slow Cooker cookbook. I hope she is using some of the recipes this winter. Winter food is especially yummy in the crockpot. I use mine several times a week. Things I have made recently include: apple butter, applesauce, red beans and sausage, ham and beans. Tomorrow I am making one of my favorites-a merlot roast. The recipe include 1 C of merlot, a packet of onion soup mix, a can of cream of mushroom soup and a chopped onion with a beef roast. When we get home from our co-op, which is all day Friday, I will add a bit of cornstarch dissolved in cold water and thicken the gravy it makes. With some broccoli and baked potatoes it will make an irresistable meal! Meal planning is made easy with the slow cooker, not to mention your busy day! I implore you all to get that slow-cooker out more than every once in awhile….you could easily find you self using it several nights EVERY week! Oh, I also want to mention that the slow cooker is also the campers best friend. This summer we discovered that if we plug the slow cooker in inside the pop-up camper while we are out hiking and sightseeing, we came home to a delicious meal with plenty of leftovers. No more trying to cook for a hungry bunch of tired and cranky kids (and adults)! ( Not advisable in bear country without a fully hardsided camper!)
- Ticonderoga Pencils: A must-have for the homeschooler. I discovered these pencils on the Sonlight forums and decided to give them a try after a very trying first year of bad pencils. I had bought cheap or cute pencils in our first year of school, only to later to sorely regret it. The thing about Ticonderoga’s are they are made of higher quality wood and most importantly, the graphite is centered in the pencil. Thus when you sharpen them, the actually behave like a pencil should and get a nice even sided pointy tip without shredding down half the pencil. Seems like a minor thing, but having these on hand saves us untold headaches during school hours! Made by Dixon, you can buy them at Wal-Mart for about $4.50 for a 24 pack. Well worth it!
Check back for more as I find things to add to my list!
I am so glad I raised a health conciencious warrior, so much as to help people put their eyeballs and teeth back in after explaining grammy camp. More grandparents should do this with their grankids. The kids always behave better when in our care and we found that letting them explore new things and places is not only fun and healthy, but uninhibited by parents, they have a blast. yes we have rules of behavior that is to be expected, and we expect a certain level of camp help, i.e., dishes, cleanup, etc, but most of the fun is sunup to sundown, or bedtime. We even let them cook their own food over fire! The memories are precious and I am glad the kids adapt to us old folks so well! My reward is loving well rounded grandkids that jump into my arms everytime I see them….thanks kids!