Before and afters always intrigue me. I can’t wait to move forward with a few cosmetic touches around our house. But these days, I’m pretty pleased when things are clean…’pretty’ will have to wait!  Right now though, I will live vicariously through Design Sponge and dream of days when I have the energy to complete more than the menial daily tasks.

This tiny office space is just great, as is this work space. Oh how I love shelving. And I love seeing what people do with tiny corners of their houses.

Okay, this bathroom is nice. I love all the light, but was it really that bad to begin with? Come on over when you’re ready to tackle a REAL makeover, people. There is a claw foot tub out back and a pedestal sink in my garage, both just begging to be restored and installed….

And this house tour will make you smile, especially if you like old things and vintage decor. There’s quite a lot going on, but the kids’ rooms are especially sweet.

Here are a few “befores” of our new place. And while we’ve already done a little bit of painting, creative ideas for older farmhouses are welcome! My brother in law took all of these the morning of the move and I’m so glad he did! The whole day ended up being such a blur for me. I was too busy being sick, laying on a rug in the floor of my empty old house, which you can see in the first picture (bottom left corner).

We have 2 living rooms downstairs. The one with the mantle and heater is sort of morphing into a music room/library type of thing for now. It has since been painted, as have the second living room and the school room.

The second one, pictured here, is where a lot of our “living” happens: games, movies, reading, lounging, napping, Lego, drawing, laundry folding, etc.

Kitchen.

School room. The stripes are gone. It’s blue now. Ahhhh.

Steps, leading upstairs. I have so many ideas for this. It will be hard to pick one!

The only downstairs rooms not pictured are the laundry and bathroom. They were already piled up with boxes and things. Not much to see there.

I’m not sure when there will be snow in our forecast again. It’s been a pretty mild winter so far in these parts. So, I’ll post this on a day that’s sunny and nearly 60. (As homeschoolers, these end up being our “snowdays” anyway. Hate to waste all that sunshine!) It’s music that is just too good to wait for snow in order to share. I first heard about The Staves here, on Today’s Letters. (Thanks, Emily!) You can get a couple of free mp3 downloads on their site when you sign up for their newsletter. Yay! Free music!

Reading this post from Ann jerked at my heart strings this past weekend. Here’s a little snippet:

They may not etch today’s accomplishments on memorial stone, but the thing is granite erodes anyways. And quiet people know it so we get up every day and we make the porridge and wash the underwear and pay the bills and tend to the hurting and we etch the love on the hearts, that which beats on without end and we pulse throughout the universe.

There’s a way to do work that lasts forever. Just do everything with love.

I didn’t really do a whole lot of handmade for Christmas this year, as is my usual practice and something that I typically enjoy. However, there were a few things that made it into the roundup. I made two of these nest necklaces (oh, and one other for myself) and they were so easy and fun.

I used this silver plated copper wire (non-tarnish!) and some tiny round colorful beads in my favorite colors. You can also get a nice sterling silver chain at a good price, especially when using a 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby.

Here is another project that was quick and fun to work on. These Yo Yo balls from Made by Joel made it into the kids’ stockings and they have had so much fun with them! They worked up really quickly and I enjoyed the minimal hand sewing that was involved.

I also learned about glass etching from a dear friend. And what a super simple way to personalize a great gift! (I plan on bringing this out a lot in the future, so watch out, you people in my gift-giving vicinity. You just might be getting some personlized glass-something-or-other in the future.) I had some (okay, dozens) of canning jars hidden in the treasure trove that is beneath my house. After a couple good cleanings, they were sparkly and I etched designs on them (with husby’s help, due to the fumes) and then filled them with homemade granola for some neighbors and friends. Sorry, no pic. Trust me, they were cute.

A couple pairs of handwarmers and a scarf, all made from felted sweaters just about rounds off all the craftinessI was able to accomplish during the Christmas season. I look forward to getting back into “creative mode” once this sweet baby girl makes her appearance…we’re within the 3 week range!

Not many people would consider English a beautiful language, but this video made me appreciate the words and sounds just a little bit more…and I really enjoyed showing it to my kids.

HT: Whit Elam

Vowels from Studiocanoe on Vimeo.

I really loved reading this interview that my friend Stacy linked up to the other day on Facebook, especially the bit about responsive reading. I can’t keep up with all that my 3rd grader reads…honestly. She is so fast, but I don’t want to forget to talk to her about what she’s reading, whether it’s something I’ve read or not. There were just some really simple prompts he offered about how to interact with what our children are reading. Good stuff!

Responsive reading is a great virtue for all ages! You promote it by asking questions. If you’ve read the book that a child is reading you can ask detailed ones, but even if you haven’t read it you can ask, “Who’s your favorite character? Why? What do you like best about the book? What do you like least? Would you recommend this to anyone? Whom would you recommend it to? Why would you recommend it?” Just getting them to put their instinctive responses into words is a great way to encourage them to formulate those responses more precisely. –Alan Jacobs

I sometimes feel bad that I’m not reading more for my own enjoyment. I know so many people can make time for it, even in similar situations to my own, with kids and homeschooling and housekeeping. I just have a hard time finding opportunities. But reading this post at SouleMama (written actually by the Papa) was so sweet and encouraging to me on that front. If you have a minute, you should give it a read. I tend to need perspective like this quite often…

Meanwhile, here’s a question for you concerning this book: Do you know why a Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz has a tail? I don’t either. And are the pink and white checks his clothes? Or his skin? Just a little fruit of my responsive reading with my youngest…

I’m taking lots of little breaks during my days…time to put up my feet and drink water and rest up for the next task. So is life. And so I have done lots of browsing/exploring and here are a few links I think you might enjoy.

Firstly, If you don’t look at any other links on this page, please do yourself a favor and read this post from Rachel . It contained so much of the perspective that I have been in need of lately. So familiar on so many levels. Good grief.  Here’s an excerpt:

I’m sure most of you have noticed the magnetic power of what you clean. Clean the bookshelf up, and everyone wants to read. Organize the little toys, and everyone wants to play with the things they have been callously walking on for days. This is a sign that you are succeeding, that your people love your work. Think of it like food, because that is how it is getting used.

Also enjoy some lovely and insightful conversations here between father and daughter on lots of motherhood topics. (You’ll see additional video links at the bottom of the page) Great stuff!

Books Should Be Free! (As my husband is a writer, I’m not quite sure I totally agree with this statement, but it doesn’t stop us from taking advantage of free audio books!) Check out all these children’s classics from the public domain. (HT Ann Voskamp)

Design Mom’s Living with Kids Series It’s all about the design of houses where children live. My goal for our home is for children to feel welcome and engaged. But I do have an eye for design and I think the two can be happily married. Warning: All the rooms are pristine, but don’t get a complex. We all know that we have to actually LIVE in our houses so they can’t be perfect all the time. I’m sure even these moms have clutter and laundry and Legos to deal with on a daily basis.

This ‘Living In’ post from Design Sponge. Don’t you just want to open a door to another world sometimes? Oh, Narnia…

Here’s a great tutorial about how to get started on Pinterest.

I always look forward to The Long Thread’s collection of favorite tutorials from the past year.

Have fun and don’t get lost!

I know it’s 2012. I don’t have any major resolutions for this year. As Edie said so beautifully in her Resolution post, this 2011-2012 year is proving to be a rooting year.

….some years are for roots and foundations.   Those are the years that you have new babies or you move or start new jobs or your house burns down.  Those years are hard to measure in terms of resolution progress.  But they’re no less important.  In fact, the rooting years are probably the most important of all.   But they’re usually the ones that you’re glad to have behind you. –Edie Wadsworth

So many big things have happened/are happening and it’s sometimes hard to wrap my head around it all and figure out exactly what I’m supposed to be doing. While I am extremely grateful for all that is happening, and all the ways we have been blessed, I’m also a little shell shocked.  So I’m plugging along, waiting for our series of big changes to be completed, resolved to keep doing what needs to be done in the moment.

I do know that my family can always benefit from more love and affection from me. Believe it or not, sometimes it’s hard to give. Sometimes it’s exhausting to answer every question, sympathize with every boo boo and be patient with every spill or potty accident. So, more love? Yes.

How about more contentment? Nancy challenged me with this one. She’s good. Although, if I’m still being honest, and I think I am…this is one area that I seem to have a constant struggle. It may not be the same issue every time, but it originates with contentment, or lack thereof.

Our contentment does not lie in our circumstances, for if it did, we would only be able to be content when everything is going exactly as we like, which isn’t very often. Contentment is found in Christ, who will never leave us or forsake us. Contentment is found in submitting to God’s purposes and plans in our lives, even (or especially) when we don’t understand. Contentment is a way of exercising our faith. –Nancy Wilson

As if that wasn’t enough on the subject, Amy also posted a great quote from Sally Clarkson on the same thing. Good stuff.

These may seem like piddly goals or vague ambitions, but I see so many specific ways I can implement these two things this year. I think doing so will benefit my whole family. “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” So, it’s sort of up to me (with His help, of course).

This is the first year we are going to enjoy a BIG Christmas tree. The old one that we have used for the past 11 years is now upstairs as “the kids’ tree.” Along with it, went lots of our ornaments, so the big one has been looking pretty sparse for several days now. Since we are actually living in the biggest gift we could receive this year, there isn’t a huge decorating budget. That hasn’t stopped us though, don’t you worry. We took to the woods and cabinets and dirty corners of the garage and have come up with some simply lovely decor that will be with us from here on out, I’m sure.

First up? Pinecones! We happened to know where there would be a HUGE stash of pinecones just waiting to be had. One problem: it’s not our yard anymore. So, we asked our new neighbor for permission to scavenge our old yard. His response? “Sure! Mi casa es su casa!” What a swell fella. We took more than enough, but they were all closed up, wet and cold. No problem, thanks to the Google. We just popped them in the oven on 250 degrees and waited for them to open up to us. The house smelled heavenly for a bit and they are now even more beautiful than before. Here they are, from start to finish.

I also found some sort of lacy white thread from a box that my grandmother had given me. We had a nice cozy snow day where the kids played outside a lot and I had the time to whip up a simple crochet chain to drape on the branches as well. I love it when a plan comes together…for free. I would love to have time to make some of these birds and nestle them in the branches. And this will be our topper this year. I’m seeing a theme developing, aren’t you?

Here’s one more little touch that I’m pretty proud of, inspired by this picture. I found a dirty old box in the garage that had been long since neglected. With a little rinse and some more of our pinecones and candles, it’s useful and pretty once again! I saw two more pinecone related projects that really interested me…maybe next year. This pinecone garland and also this one.  Maybe a combination of the two?

I hope you’re finding ways to make things cozy in your home as well!

Today is St. Nicholas Day!  If you’re familiar with the legends about him, you will know that St. Nicholas was a firecracker of a guy who was persecuted for his faith, but also humble and generous. He was a giver, which would explain why we have the Santa Claus that we have today.

You can read so much about St. Nicholas here. It’s all very fascinating. But perhaps the most well known story about him is this one (excerpt taken from the same source):

One story tells of a poor man with three daughters. In those days a young woman’s father had to offer prospective husbands something of value—a dowry. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man’s daughters, without dowries were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home-providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from St. Nicholas. Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas. And so St. Nicholas is a gift-giver.

We have developed the tradition of hanging our stockings on this day, and since most of his giving was done in secret,  we like to secretly slip tiny tokens and treats of love into our stockings all throughout the Advent season and enjoy opening them on Christmas Day, when the real party begins.

Here is a sweet little tutorial for carving little Santas out of twigs. I know a certain 6 year old boy that will be nuts about this. And these are the St. Nicholas crafts we did last year.

Happy St. Nicholas Day to you!