Wednesday, May 30, 2012

To the Ballet

Kaiya's recital was last night. She did a wonderful job! I must say, I was nervous for her. I don't think the stage is for me but she loved it.
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Off we go.
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This is Kaiya's teacher (to the right in the photo above), Mr. Nunnery. He turned 93 this year and Kaiya absolutely adores him!
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The ballet was Sleeping Beauty and Kaiya brought a gift to baby Aurora and then danced with her class.
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I'm so proud of her!

I've made much headway on doll clothes and am almost ready for tomorrow. Not sure what time I'll get to bed but I'll be ready!

Monday, May 28, 2012

Getting Ready

Kaiya's very first ballet recital is tomorrow and right now she's at the dress rehearsal.They're preforming 'Sleeping Beauty'. Oh, she is so excited! And I'm a bit nervous for her. What a big step to be up on that stage. She's never done anything like this before.
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Isn't she beautiful with her hair up?! You should have seen her in her little tutu. I didn't get any pictures of her all dressed but I will tomorrow, of course.
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And her birthday is on Thursday. Do you remember this dolly? I made it for her two Christmas' ago. By now she was in such bad shape. Her stuffing was all out of wack and I hadn't put enough in anyway. And dirty! Oh, my goodness, was this girl dirty. So about a week and a half ago I told Kaiya I wanted to give her a makeover, clean her up, restuff her, maybe even replace some parts I wasn't happy with, for her birthday and make her new clothes, too. Kaiya turned her back to me and just nodded her head. I asked her if she was sure it would be alright and and she said yes and I could tell she was wiping her eyes. I told her I wouldn't do it if she didn't want me to. She said she did, she was just sad she would have to be apart from her. She cried so much, it just about broke my heart! I gave them a day together before I started and Kaiya gave her a picnic party.
It turned out to be in such worse shape than I realized, though. I thought I'd give her a whole new body and just wash the head. That didn't work at all. The dirt was too deep and it really just made it worse. Loved much, I suppose. So, I had to just start over. And I did, and worked too late into the night and the next day I just hated it. Her body was all wrong. I used the original to go by and I should have made a paper pattern. So I thought I'd make yet another body.... except I didn't have enough of that particular skin tone to make a new body. Which meant I'd have to make a a new face to go with the new skin tone. So, the inner head remains the same and I used all the original stuffing and then some... so that's sort of like the same doll, right? I just had to add the freckles this time. She's kind of obsessed with freckles at the moment. I've already fessed up to Kaiya and told her not to expect the exact same face and she's OK with that, just excited to see her again. And now I'm trying to hurry-scurry make doll clothes in the little bit of time I have left. Oy! I've totally got this.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Lately

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After two full weeks of one or another of us being sick, the Hunter household is now all-better and back out enjoying the beautiful spring weather. Here, the weather has been so very nice... 75-85 degrees, many evenings topped off with a delicious thunderstorm, lulling us to sleep. I know the heat of summer is just around the corner, but for now, I'm soaking it up.

We've been spending a great deal off time gathering wild plants for some herbal preparations I have planned. I've also begun a journal of various herbs and their applications. I've found so many different resources.. a little here, a little there. I'm taking the time to get them all down in one place. I'll share that with you soon.

But for now, I'm off to bed. By the way, if you've not already entered, check out this week's giveaway and let me know of you'd like to participate in a Meltdown Monday Giveaway.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Meltdown Monday Giveaway

Comments on this giveaway are now closed.

The winner is Tayna. Congratulations!

Hi everyone! I've been without a phone and thus internet, as well, since Thursday. Down again within two weeks... this is getting pretty old and we're looking into switching phone companies. So, I have lots of catching up to do but first we're going to get the week start off right with a Meltdown Monday giveaway.
You met Jennifer not that long ago and were introduced to her Etsy shop Two Little Dragons. Now she is back to share a new project that she is working on. I'll let her take it from here...
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First off, thank you to Julie for having us in this space and hosting our giveaway. Annie and I are so excited about our new business venture, it is wonderful to be able to share it with everyone on this site!
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Annie approached me a few months ago with an idea to somehow combine her beautiful photography and my stories. We sat down and talked, and talked, and talked. The more we talked the more the idea started to grow and evolve and take shape and eventually, it took on a life of its own. It is truly the collective creative energies of both of us. We each have young children and we realized the simple joy that they get from receiving a piece of good old fashioned snail mail. This is true no matter where you live or what your parenting style is, children love getting mail, and so Mariposa Forest was born.
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Mariposa Forest is a subscription based service in which, twice a month your child receives stories from our world, Mariposa Forest. The stories are written by the inhabitants of the forest, some furry, some feathered, some magical. Along with the stories are beautiful photographs just to give a glimpse of the world in which the stories take place.
We are hoping to help create a magical experience for children that doesn't involve electronics, advertising, or batteries of any kind. The only thing needed is imagination.
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We are offering a 3 month subscription for the giveaway. Included in this subscription is the “Welcome Letter” sent by one of the residents of the Forest. This is a way to welcome the child to Mariposa and let them know to start looking in the mail, that something special will soon be coming just for them. The Introductory Story is next and is their first story from the forest. It will help them be introduced to some of the characters and places and orient them to the world in which everything takes place. After that they will start receiving the seasonal stories that will be coming from various inhabitants of Mariposa.

Thank you again for having us and we hope that your readers will stop by and read more about us on the website, or visit us on Facebook.
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OK, so to enter leave me a comment. You can let me know how your Monday is going or, better yet, tell me how you beat the dreadful Meltdown Monday or just say hi.

For additional entries;
(leave a separate comment for each entry, if you don't, they count as one)
Tweet this (include @thiscosylife in your tweet)
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I will randomly pick a winner on Sunday May 27th and announce here, on my blog. (Please, make sure I have a way to contact you!) This giveaway is open worldwide.

PS: If anyone is interested in participating in a Monday Meltdown giveaway, here on my blog, contact me here. Whether an item from your Etsy shop or just a little something you would like to give away to brighten someone's Monday, it's all good!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Monday

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Another week has begun. My two oldest girls have kicked the flu, all but a bit of a cough. River is still suffering, though, and I've caught it at last. It snuck up on me quite unexpectedly as I nursed River down for a nap this morning. Isn't that when it always gets you? When you stop and take a breath. I'm not too bad at the moment. I felt worse earlier but took a nap when Tait came home from work and then he made a hot batch of miso soup and fried rice for supper and that warmed me up so nicely.

We has an intense thunderstorm this evening just before the girls went to bed and it knocked the electricity out several times. The last time unfortunately killed our internet router, which I dumbly forgot to unplug. So here I am, hooked straight up to the modem which happens to be in the kitchen behind a curtain and I'm using the the kitchen counter. Well, at least we're still on, right? You only have one cord to duck under to pass through...

We're supposed to be in for at least one or two more days of rain so I'm going to have to come up with something to keep these girls busy. They've reached the end of their tolerance for staying inside after their sick week. Though, if I wake up too sick in the morning I will unashamedly pile them into my bed and we'll watch videos til Tait comes to relieve me. But assuming I wake up bright eyed and brushy tailed, please tell me what you do with your little one on the cooped up days. I need some new ideas!

Yet again, I'm skipping the Meltdown Monday Giveaway this week. Simply because I'm exhausted after the sick week and starring down the barrel of round two and I've actually got two in the works already. The one I already told you abut over on the Natural Kids blog, and a huge one I'm collaborating on with some other members of Natural Kids over on Linda's blog, Natural Suburbia. I will return with Meltdown Monday next week with a new project from Jennifer of Two Little Dragons, so stay tuned! Have a great week, friends!

Friday, May 11, 2012

Some New Things

I've been working on a couple of new things for my shop. Actually the first thing, this balm, was something I made for my girls.
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I had put together a 'Calm Down' basket for them.... a mind jar, Rescue Remedy, and soothing stones. I found it very helpful, if for no other reason than the intentionality behind it, but I wanted to add something that I could apply to them, a salve or oil. What I came up with was 'Calming Balm', full of skin nourishing oils and soul soothing essential oils. Lavender, a favorite 'all-purpose' oil and chamomile.
The way I use it is, we go into a quiet room and lie down. Then I rub the balm along their forehead, over the nose and chin, all the while softly singing or talking with them. It works wonders! The calming scent, the gentle touch and soft voices, my being there with them.
Now it's our go-to balm. River is wearing underwear during the day but still a diaper at night. Poor thing suffers from diaper rash much more than my other girls and the calming balm is the only thing helping right now. And I can feel good about it because it's totally safe and gentle. We also use it for dry spots, itchy spots, dry lips.... anything!

I've made up just a few.. I think I have a dozen right now, and put them in my shop, just to see how they do. Right now I've handwritten the labels. We'll see about nice printed labels if I decide to make more to sell.
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I must admit, I've temporarily abandoned my knitting. I'm finding more peace in very simple stitching at the moment. I like these. They're wool felt, filled with dried lavender buds and rice.
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I also wanted to tell you about a giveaway I'm doing over on the Natural Kids blog for Mother's Day. And a sale from my friend Lucinda. 12% off in her shop right now. You should absolutely take advantage of it. My girls just adore her toys we have! Just use the coupon code MADAY12 at checkout.
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Well, that's all for now. It's way past my bedtime!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Flu- Round 2

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No sooner than Kaiya kicked it, that pesky flu has showed it's ugly head again. This time it's Zoe and I'm left only dreaming of lying out in the sunshine (finally a sunshiny day and we're not out in it) in a patch of clover with the girls.
So once again the house is smelling of tumeric and rosemary and after last night, this mama is exhausted! I can only imagine how my husband is fairing at work. But right now Kaiya is 'reading' a book to her sisters and I can hear them sweetly giggling behind me. I think I'll go join in.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

#2

Just after I hit 'publish post' yesterday I went out to feed the animals and found a very happy surprise. Another chick! This is certainly one of those times I'm so happy to be wrong.
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Eight days after the first one hatched along straggles number two. And just as I was about to toss the remaining eggs. So much for the advise that if they don't all hatch within 3 days they probably won't hatch at all.
I actually walked in the hen house to find this Rhode Island Red sitting o the nest. I shooed her away because I thought she was just adding to it and I didn't want to get the eggs mixed up. What a shock to see a hatching in progress!
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The Red was shaken off just momentarily and Mama jumped on to cover the wet baby, as you can see below. There it is, still in it's half shell. When I came back later May had Mama on the run again and the Red was back in place. Now we have two mamas, each with her own babe. How sweet they are! What's so surprising is that this Red (and none of the other Reds) has ever shown any signs of broodiness. But what a good, protective mama she is! I was just out the checking up on things and she's sitting loyally on the nest, keeping her baby safely by.
Have you ever watched a chicken mama with her babes? It's so wonderful to see. She stays puffed up all the time, ready to draw her babe in under her at a moments notice. I lost track of the Red for moment after I shooed her off, but there could be no mistaken her in her puffed up state and she eagerly ran back to the nest, making a quiet little noise, seeming to 'talk' to her little one. Love!
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On a completely different topic, do you know what this is? Not the mock strawberry leaves but the roundish ones. There's a whole bunch behind the house and I was wondering because I really thought I had just seen then on a web site of wild herbs but now I just can't find it. Any guess?
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Monday, May 7, 2012

This Is the Way We Scratch For Bugs

Only one chick hatched. Mama didn't sit on the nest too long. She was up and off after her little toddler fairly quickly. Some of the other hens sat for a while but, after several days, it was obvious there would only be one baby this go round. It's the first, though, and I'm sure there will be more to come in the future. For now, this mama and her one little one are up and exploring the barn yarn. Mama's been teaching babe (whom I've named May, due to 'her' May Day birth. I hope 'she's' not a 'he'!) to scratch out bugs. It's so sweet to watch the little one toddle around after her, imitating. Seems so very familiar.
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Mama is a Gold Lace Wyandotte and I'm fairly sure that May is from one of our Black Australorps.
I'm a bit worried about the little one running around out there, though, looking very much like a chicken nugget to predators. Fortunately, we've never had an issue with predators, due to the animals being so close to the house, I believe. And the other chickens couldn't care less about it, which is a good thing. Not that this protective mama is about to get any of them get close to it. Seeing her run around after it, trying to keep up reminds me of myself, trying to keep up with River. I feel for you, mama!
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P.S. Kaiya is on the mend, feeling miles better today than yesterday, and the rest of us are still feeling in the clear. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and sweet words!