Friday, September 25, 2009

If You Tell the Historian About Homeschool Days at Colonial Williamsburg...

If you tell the Historian about homeschool days at Colonial Williamsburg,
He'll get really excited and start planning a trip.

Photobucket

He'll want the Crafter to look the part,
so she'll get out her longest dress and mob cap.

Photobucket

Princess Pink will feel left out, so the Chemist will go up into the hot attic and bring down bins of the Crafter's outgrown clothes.   We'll find something that works.

Photobucket

Photobucket

When the girls have their costumes, Wild Thing will feel left out.  There's no time to make a costume, so we'll just roll his pants legs up and buy him a pistol.

Photobucket 

Then the Historian will suggest that his wife dress up,
so the Chemist will dig out ye olde big skirt and colonialish blouse and borrow an apron.

Photobucket

Then realizing that she has no suitable head covering, she'll buy one of the overpriced souvenir caps from Market Square.
Photobucket

Once the Historian's family is dressed as the gentry class of colonial times, he will need his costume.  He will notice that he has no stockings.  He will need to go out to buy some.

Photobucket

He'll go to the store, but will be too embarrassed to purchase them.  He'll make the Chemist buy them.  When she picks out some lovely black queen sized knee-highs, he'll decide that they are too sheer and make Wild Thing wear them.
Photobucket

He'll want to back the next day to get white ones.  The Chemist will have a horrible headache and be unable to go, so he'll take the Crafter.

Photobucket

They won't have any in his size so he'll go to another store and another and another.
He'll finally end up with some white opaque tights with a reinforced toe. 

Photobucket

Everyone will spend 3 days discussing history and having fun in Colonial Williamsburg.

Photobucket  Photobucket

We will get back really late.  While lying in bed, the Historian will start reading through the stack of brochures he picked up one the trip.  And chances are, if the Historian sees the dates for the next set of homeschool days, he'll get really excited and start planning a trip.

Photobucket

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Sunday, August 16, 2009

A Conversation

Princess Pink:  Where's that picture?

Me:  It's at Aunt X and Uncle Y's wedding.

Princess Pink:  Who's the baby?

Me:  Wild Thing.

Princess Pink:  Where am I?

Me:  That was before you were born.

Wild Thing:  Yeah, you hadn't been knit yet.

Psalm 139:13-14  For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Lookie What I Found at the Thrift Store

I love a bargain, but I am pretty lazy about bargain shopping.  I am not a much of a coupon shopper because there really aren't that many coupons for things that I use.  I don't live close enough to a CVS to make it worth my time.  I don't go to yard sales because I don't want to get up that early.  I do however enjoy thrift stores, and I consider myself somewhat of an expert.

My usual thrift store route starts in a larger town with the GoodWill.  I consider Good Will a rookie's thrift store because many of the items are overpriced and can be bought new for slightly more.  Sometimes I will get lucky.  I got a Little Tykes play kitchen for $8 when the Crafter was two.  The next stop is at the Habitat for Humanity Store in my neighboring town.  I found a corner cabinet once for $75.  It now holds our TV in the living room.  I'm still looking for the elusive perfect couch, so I had to stop. 

My last stop is the PTA Thrift Shop.  It is the best thrift store ever.  Almost all of our clothing (except for socks and underwear of course) comes from this shop.  I could spend many a paragraph recounting finds like the Eddie Baur jeans for 75 cents, the set of 10 Avent bottles for $2, or the full set of A Beka readers for $3. 

But this is my greatest thrift store triumph.  I am confident that this will never be topped.  This is what I got for $10.



 Undampened Spirits by Jack Terry

I just thought it was a nice picture for the living room.  The frame was nice and the price was right.  Out of curiosity, I looked up the artist on the internet.  Imagine my surprise when I found out that the canvas print was worth $495 without the frame!  I am still in shock.  I was figuring that the picture was worth around $150 considering the quality of the framing.  I would have never guessed that it was worth so much. 

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Trip to Horne Creek Farm

Horne Creek Farm

This is one of the most fun historical sites we have ever visited.   It is a living history farm that was in operation around 1900.  Nothing that appears in history books happened here.  There were no very famous visitors.  Why do we love this place?  You can touch almost everything and nothing is roped off.  We spent the entire day there and played farm.  The Crafter made out a chore list for the whole family except for Princess Pink.  She was visiting Grandma.

Photobucket
Front of the Farm House

Photobucket
Dinner Bell

Photobucket
Wild Thing in His Room

Photobucket
Making Bread and Butter

Photobucket
Cooking and Hauling Wood

Photobucket
Grinding Corn

Photobucket
The Sheep 

Photobucket
The Mule
This is an older picture.  The mule has since died.

Photobucket
Time to Eat

Photobucket
Relaxing with a Game of Chinese Checkers

Friday, June 26, 2009

Artist Carl Warner

We discovered these landscapes a few weeks ago.

broccoli-forest-carl-warner.jpg picture by soandjo

Carl_warner_Salmon-sea.jpg picture by soandjo


Look closely.  Notice anything unusual?  Every item in these works of art is edible.  We have had great fun looking at these landscapes and trying to figure out how the pictures were made.  For example, the mountains are bread and the sea is salmon. 

Carl Warner is a photographer based in London.  He is know for his "foodscapes", and you can see his work in many food ads.  Check out these sites.  There is duplication among the sites, but each one has a few unique images.  We especially enjoy the meat landscapes.

http://freshpics.blogspot.com/2008/03/amazing-foodscapes-by-carl-warner.html

http://www.moillusions.com/2008/06/carl-warners-food-landscapes-or.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/3519419/Foodscapes-amazing-food-art-by-Carl-Warner.html

The Crafter is particularly inspired, but I haven't given her permission to buy large amounts of produce to create a forest.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Goodbye Sweetie...Hello Princess Pink

This post is way overdue.  For some time now, the Crafter has been after me to change Sweetie's blog name.  The main reason is that she's not as sweet as she used to be.  My youngest daughter has a fiery temper and a well devoloped stubborn streak. 

I chose Sweetie's blog name shortly after her second birthday.  She was going through a phase where she called EVERYONE "Sweetie".   The checkout clerk and the bug man were not immune.   She picked up the phrase in her Sunday School class.  Her teacher always said "Bye Sweetie" when she left each week. 

The Crafter and I thought long and hard about what name should replace Sweetie.  We decided on Princess Pink.  Her favorite color is pink.  She must wear pink each day even if it's only her underwear.  She eats off a pink plate whenever possible.  Right now as I type, she is crying that we don't have a pink blow pop for her dessert.  She will have to settle for purple.

Her other interests currently include playing dress-up, coloring, and playing with her babies.

Photobucket

Princess Pink with her pink babies