dc craft room

In the three years of running my child care business in the house trailer at the front of our property there have been subtle changes.  Changes in seasons, changes in ages of kids that I accept, changes in decor, but truly one of the rooms has been transformed a couple of times.  It's the master bedroom of the house which is the biggest room other than the main play room.  At first I designated it as the nursery, obviously, for younger children or babies.  I have since decided that I prefer to have a different age group and realize how difficult daily life here can be when you add a baby to a few preschoolers.  So the room made a change when I took out the changing table and baby bed.

The room then sat in a sort of transition stage where the school age kids spent a little time.  I moved in some books, a bean bag, a table, and the tv/vcr combo for quiet time.  The room felt unused after a time.  Especially after I didn't have school age kids anymore.  So early 2014 I decided to make it our full time craft room.  We had more room and I could store supplies in there.  We used it a couple of times a week but still used the main eating table for projects too.  

This winter I decided to let it go... to give the kids the reign of the room so to speak.  I put in easy craft supplies, scissors, glue sticks, their journals and a gate on the door for privacy from the smaller ones who aren't quite ready to be turned loose.  I have two book shelves in the room.  One set of shelves houses puzzles, seasonal and educational games with numbers and letters, and the other set of shelves are the supplies.  I fill the baskets with cardboard tubes from paper towel and toilet paper rolls, styrofoam cups, cardboard, plastic bowls and even cereal boxes.  They have yarn, stickers and even their own roll of masking tape.  I have a good time coming across items, silently putting them on the shelves in the mornings and seeing what their minds come up with.  And boy do they ever come up with some stuff!  From airplanes to robots to thoughtful drawings, their minds are free to make whatever they can come up with in their craft room.  We still use it too for crafts that I come up with for them but on a daily basis.. it's their room.

BTW Our craft room does take donations!  We are getting low on scrap paper and are always looking for new, recycled supplies!

Talk about sparking creativity!  Check out this robot made with no help whatsoever from me.

I like this action shot of my kitchen helper.

On The Menu

Here we have some vegan recipes that I have come across simply by going to Pinterest and typing in "vegan breakfast".  Truth is, I am being urged (by no one but myself) to actually do the 108 day, The Ultimate Yogi program.  The program not only consists of daily yoga and meditation but also a big change in diet, for me anyway.  Lots of juices, no processed foods (which I try my best to stay away from already), vegan, raw, and no alcohol.  It would be tough until I got the hang of it.  But this morning I wondered... what to vegans eat for breakfast?  I eat pretty healthy and switch my breakfasts from my berry-beet smoothie, my favorite green smoothie, over night oats and rye toast with almond butter, banana and flax seed.  Sounds like I would do ok I reckon.  As I was browsing, I found a few recipes I'd like to have a go with.  I actually tried making the 3 ingredient biscuits Sunday morning and not sure if the one container that I used to keep self-rising flour in still contained SR or not, I used it anyway and turns out it wasn't SR flour.  Not sure what it was actually.  Tasted pretty salty and smelled like play dough.  My fault.  Worth a try though!

3 Ingredient Coconut Oil Biscuits

Photo and recipe from: gimmesomeoven.com            

Breakfast Cookies

Photo and recipe credit: diary of a mad crafter... obvi                             

Vegan Breakfast Burritos

Photo and recipe from: veganfreezerexchange.blogspot.com  

  

These burritos remind me of a lunch variety of burritos that I made for myself to eat on the trails four wheeling.  I actually haven't eating any lunch meat (processed) in over a year and didn't want to spoil that being in a pinch for picnic food.  So I made "make ahead lunch wraps", ate them cold and truthfully enjoyed the heck out of them.  This version has tofu which I will admit I have never tried and am a hesitant to do so.  I'm not real sure what tofu is exactly and since we mentioned processed.... it sounds like tofu would have to be processed somehow.  I've often stared at it at the grocery store with a difficult look on my face wondering... soft? firm? what am I going to make with it? will Shaun come near it?  So I wind up leaving it there.

Do you have any vegan breakfast ideas or suggestions? Lemme have em please!

In Memory

Bless. I am saddened to report that our dear sweet Cotton Bottom is no longer with us.  Apparently, and it doesn't surprise me with snow on the ground for a week now, that something, a possum I expect, was pretty hungry last night and found it's way to our girl.  Cotton was the only chicken we have had for over a year now and was one of the finest layers I have ever met.  Not to mention one who laid the biggest eggs I'd ever seen.  Although I admit I don't get attached in my heart to our strictly outdoor animals around here simply because they are more vulnerable to hungry wildlife when we aren't looking.  It's just part of having them and I have to understand that.  I am sad but more in a smile way for the way she was and her personality than a sad and crying way.  When you have farm animals it just is that way.  I enjoyed taking care of her and getting to know her as our lone chicken for so long.  However, this does open up the possibility of getting a larger flock.  I didn't want to introduce new chickens and was protective of her because when you mix new chickens in with existing chickens they can tend to bully especially if they are already familiar with each other and I liked her and respected her enough to not want to expose her to that.

She actually spent the night in the shop two of the coldest nights and days this past week with the warmth of the heater and Miss Kitty's company and she had her usual appetite back from where she had molted during January.  We have been blessed with a couple of really sweet chickens during the last several years of raising hens and she was for sure a sweet soul.  I would carry her around and she would talk to me in her own way.  She loved bathing in the loose garden soil and when we'd take a walk along side the shop lifting rocks and looking for worms.  Ok.. now I'm getting emotional... a little.  Enough said.  Cotton Bottom will for sure be missed.

I used this picture in the calendar I made for my family this year and it brought home a ribbon in the county fair in 2014.

Shaun recently let her out to roam for a couple of hours only to find that he couldn't find her when it was time to put her up.  Oddly enough he could find Kate either.  Turns out they were both taking a nap in Kate's dog house.  How sweet.

literally

I love putting together my library lists and sharing them with you!  I am constantly around the web looking for new books that interest me and requesting them from my library.  

I have been on the list for The Blender Girl by Tess Masters for weeks now.  I adore my Vitamix and having a good smoothie for breakfast and am always looking for variations and new combinations to try.  This book also promises meals and desserts!  Only eleven people in front of me in line to get it now!

One of my very favorite and go to baking cookbooks is Back in the Day Bakery cookbook by Cheryl and Griffith Day from their bakery in Georgia.  This is their newest cookbook and I can't wait to get my hands on it!  I'm second in line with this one but the library doesn't actually have it yet.  If they order more than one copy I will be sure to get a brand spanking new on to look at!  Woo Hoo!

I have been a big fan of the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley.  He puts out a new book in this series each January.  This is the newest one and I actually got it faster than I thought.  I read it in about ten days which is fast for me.  It says something about a fast and easy read if I take it to the day care and opt for reading instead of internet surfing during nap time.  I really enjoyed this book just as much as the others.

The Book of Life on dvd is on hold at the request of one of my kiddos at the library.  I will be picking it up for nap time watching next week. 

And a few pictures of books that I like.

Photo found on: http://frommoontomoon.blogspot.co.uk/                       

Books from our outing at Miss Lucille's.

Found on flickr.com   

This is my cookbook collection before I moved residence and decided I had too many.

        

Happy Birthday Marty!!