We finally made it to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. It was a beautiful day for it and the kids had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures!
Hope your week is going well and continues to.
Hope your week is going well and continues to.
I have started formulating my plans for holiday gift-giving. I've created a rough gift-giving list and have started thinking of things I'd like to either make or buy for those people. Since I've been on the hunt for cool ideas, I thought I'd share my finds with you. You may all end up receiving one of these very gifts from me, but you don't know which one so the surprise is not ruined.
New to my gift-giving list are W's teachers. Mind you, I did put something small together for her preschool teachers last year and the year before, but she wasn't with them 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. I'm feeling the need to up the ante for her teachers this year. I figure I'll do something really special for her main teacher and do smaller gifts for her "camp class" teachers (music, PE, computers). Here is a list I found for Teacher Appreciation gifts on Skip To My Lou's Blog. They're all so clever and so easy to do. I especially liked this one. I would put some homemade goodies inside.
These two lists at Sew, Mama, Sew have become my go-to lists for handmade gifts. It is full of so many ideas, I'm sure you'll find something to make for someone on your list. I am especially loving these felt ornaments.
Of course I have a bunch of kids to make gifts for and I have tons of ideas spinning around in my head. I have a mixture of boys and girls at varying ages, so it's tough. In years past I did assembly line style gifts, but these kids are getting older and the ideas for them are getting more difficult. I'm thinking about dolls... and monsters... rocket ships... doll houses... barrettes... I could go on and on. If I'm not careful, I will waste so much time trying to decide what I want to make everyone that I won't make anything at all (as in years past).
New to my gift-giving list are W's teachers. Mind you, I did put something small together for her preschool teachers last year and the year before, but she wasn't with them 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. I'm feeling the need to up the ante for her teachers this year. I figure I'll do something really special for her main teacher and do smaller gifts for her "camp class" teachers (music, PE, computers). Here is a list I found for Teacher Appreciation gifts on Skip To My Lou's Blog. They're all so clever and so easy to do. I especially liked this one. I would put some homemade goodies inside.
These two lists at Sew, Mama, Sew have become my go-to lists for handmade gifts. It is full of so many ideas, I'm sure you'll find something to make for someone on your list. I am especially loving these felt ornaments.
Of course I have a bunch of kids to make gifts for and I have tons of ideas spinning around in my head. I have a mixture of boys and girls at varying ages, so it's tough. In years past I did assembly line style gifts, but these kids are getting older and the ideas for them are getting more difficult. I'm thinking about dolls... and monsters... rocket ships... doll houses... barrettes... I could go on and on. If I'm not careful, I will waste so much time trying to decide what I want to make everyone that I won't make anything at all (as in years past).
During a little stroll through the dollar store over the weekend, W found a little tuft of silver tinsel that had obviously broken off a longer strand of tinsel garland. She quickly picked it up and admired the glittery soft goodness of it. When I realized what she had, I told her to put it down and not to pick things up off the floor. We continued on our merry way, finding things we really needed (mad love for the dollar store). On our way back to our car, W commented how she really wished she could have taken that tinsel home. I laughed it off. Upon arriving at the car, she got a devilish grin on her face and reached into her pants. I asked her what she was doing, to which she replied, "it's a surprise!" So, here's my 5 year old digging into her underwear in the middle of the parking lot and telling me it's a surprise. I was a little apprehensive.
In her hand, in all it's glittery and fuzzy glory, was the tuft of tinsel. I looked at her in disbelief and asked if she really stuffed the tinsel into her underwear... the same tinsel that was on the floor and had probably been stepped on a million times that day. Yes. Yes she had. So, I asked her what any sane, normal mother would ask in this situation... I asked her if it tickled.
"No... but it did itch."
In her hand, in all it's glittery and fuzzy glory, was the tuft of tinsel. I looked at her in disbelief and asked if she really stuffed the tinsel into her underwear... the same tinsel that was on the floor and had probably been stepped on a million times that day. Yes. Yes she had. So, I asked her what any sane, normal mother would ask in this situation... I asked her if it tickled.
"No... but it did itch."
First, let me just say how grateful I am to live in this great country. Without the immigration of Europeans, I would not be here.
While in school, I learned about Christopher Columbus. 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue... and all that jazz. I saw him as a hero because that is the way my teachers portrayed him. Now that I'm grown and can generate my own ideas about things through reading and listening, I have come to understand a different side of Columbus. What I have come to learn is Columbus was driven by greed and conquest and stopped at nothing to get what he wanted.
After becoming shipwrecked near present-day Haiti, the Arawaks worked for hours to save the crew and cargo of the Santa Maria. Sometime later, Columbus made his second voyage heavily armed with weapons and attack dogs and a crew of 1,200 men. His only goal was to conquer. Columbus went from island to island in the Caribbean taking Arawaks as slaves. He tortured the Arawaks to gain fortune. In addition, he started the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, transporting 500 men back to Spain to sell into slavery in order to fund his third voyage.
I sit here questioning whether or not to send my 5 year old to school tomorrow where her class will celebrate this man and be made to believe he was a hero. Columbus, in my opinion, was the first terrorist to attack this country, yet we honor him with parades and days off from work. Columbus began the genocide of Indigenous people; the eradication of a culture, languages and an entire way of life through rape, murder, pillaging, robbery, enslavement and torture.
I think the day should be renamed "Indigenous People Day" and we should spend the day honoring the millions of Native people who have lost their lives in the name of "progress".
While in school, I learned about Christopher Columbus. 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue... and all that jazz. I saw him as a hero because that is the way my teachers portrayed him. Now that I'm grown and can generate my own ideas about things through reading and listening, I have come to understand a different side of Columbus. What I have come to learn is Columbus was driven by greed and conquest and stopped at nothing to get what he wanted.
After becoming shipwrecked near present-day Haiti, the Arawaks worked for hours to save the crew and cargo of the Santa Maria. Sometime later, Columbus made his second voyage heavily armed with weapons and attack dogs and a crew of 1,200 men. His only goal was to conquer. Columbus went from island to island in the Caribbean taking Arawaks as slaves. He tortured the Arawaks to gain fortune. In addition, he started the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, transporting 500 men back to Spain to sell into slavery in order to fund his third voyage.
I sit here questioning whether or not to send my 5 year old to school tomorrow where her class will celebrate this man and be made to believe he was a hero. Columbus, in my opinion, was the first terrorist to attack this country, yet we honor him with parades and days off from work. Columbus began the genocide of Indigenous people; the eradication of a culture, languages and an entire way of life through rape, murder, pillaging, robbery, enslavement and torture.
I think the day should be renamed "Indigenous People Day" and we should spend the day honoring the millions of Native people who have lost their lives in the name of "progress".
In the spirit of list making, I thought I might as well hammer out my 33 list - a list of 33 things I'd like to do in the year before my next birthday.
1. Swim in Pyramid Lake
2. Make pillows for my couch
3. Take pictures of the kids' artwork and have a book printed
4. Start a knitting/sewing club
5. Ride a horse
6. Ride on a real carousel
7. Take my kids to a movie
8. Get a new tattoo
9. Do some freezer paper stenciling
10. Go to a concert
11. Make homemade bread
12. Knit a pair of socks
13. Paint in W's room
14. hand make some baby gifts
15. Take a sewing class
16. Open an Etsy shop
17. Make things for a giveaway
18. Do more crafts with the kids
19. Take a dance class
20. Read a book a month
21. Make some Christmas gifts
22. Finish my two quilts
23. Start an art group for kids
24. Volunteer in W's classroom
25. Get a laptop
26. Have lunch with a girlfriend once a month
27. Start up and stick with an exercise routine
28. Take pictures and blog about the fancy hair-dos I do with W's hair
29. Go to Ikea
30. Take the kids to the new Discovery Museum (when it opens, which probably won't be by my next birthday)
31. Teach W to sew - first by hand, then by machine
32. Teach the girls finger knitting
33. Take the dogs on runs more often
My sister, Bubba, has started a list of things she'd like to accomplish in her lifetime. I remembered, as I was reading hers, that I started a "Life List" a couple years ago but hadn't gotten very far with it. Here's what I have so far (I'll be adding to it as time goes on):
1. Go to Mexico for Dia de los Muertos
2. Go to Mexico for the Monarch Butterfly migration
3. Purchase land somewhere rural
4. Grow fruits and vegetables
5. Make homemade tortillas
6. Buy a car with cash
7. Go on a tropical vacation and stay in a bungalow
8. Go to the Olympics
9. Assist a birth as a labor coach
10. Watch my daughters graduate
11. Watch my grandchild be born
12. Have $5,000 in savings
13. Remodel my kitchen
14. Draft a sewing pattern and sell it
15. Visit Greece, Italy, Spain, France and England (and Asia... Africa... Australia... Canada... the list is endless)
16. Do a Hanbleceya (vision quest) within the next 3 years
17. Camp in the Grand Canyon
1. Go to Mexico for Dia de los Muertos
2. Go to Mexico for the Monarch Butterfly migration
3. Purchase land somewhere rural
4. Grow fruits and vegetables
5. Make homemade tortillas
6. Buy a car with cash
7. Go on a tropical vacation and stay in a bungalow
8. Go to the Olympics
9. Assist a birth as a labor coach
10. Watch my daughters graduate
11. Watch my grandchild be born
12. Have $5,000 in savings
13. Remodel my kitchen
14. Draft a sewing pattern and sell it
15. Visit Greece, Italy, Spain, France and England (and Asia... Africa... Australia... Canada... the list is endless)
16. Do a Hanbleceya (vision quest) within the next 3 years
17. Camp in the Grand Canyon
