Laurie's Everyday Notions

Cooked on low for hours. Some of the puree was frozen for baby food. Sugar was added to the remaining apricot puree and left to simmer on the stove for a couple more hours to make apricot butter.

I spend a vast majority of my time in the kitchen. The kitchen is where I prepare meals not only for my family but also for my daycare family. Three meals plus two snacks, at least five days a week. This is also where we home school and it is the first room that the children enter when they arrive each morning. Needless to say it's hard to keep this room clean. The table (opposite of the sink), which also gets used as the school "desk",  gets piled with books, mail, canning jars, groceries, and daycare coloring/painting projects.  The other day as I had many kitchen tasks going at one time, I stepped back and looked at the mess. My first reaction was to be overwhelmed by the mess that I had created. But then I looked closer..or I should say, I stepped back, saw the big picture and the many "blessings" in the midst of the chaos. This is how I LIKE my kitchen to look:  I LOVE clear counter tops. When the kitchen is as I like it, the counter is essen...

First Day of School!  Before.......  after. Still not quite right. School has started, yet I'm still trying to find a better way to store our books. These books get used at least weekly but most are used daily. Our "once-in-awhile" books, such as reference books, are kept on one of the book shelves in the living room. So what do I do with our school books?? The location works. However the books are held up by a knife block, which means whenever I grab one of the heftier books the whole pile falls over. This is irritating...and a time waster. So I grabbed a book shelf thinking this would eliminate this problem. I was hoping to position the shelf on it's side however my books are too tall. Not only is the shelf a bit of an eye sore (not a huge issue for me as I prefer function over fashion) but it's still not big enough. I'm stumped. If I had an unlimited money tree, I'd buy something that works better. No, actually I'd have the whole microw...

This morning I was thinking about our trip "Up North" (Bemidji, MN) over Labor Day Weekend. After a crazy, hectic summer, a trip to the cabin was just what I needed to refresh and rejuvenate me before we headed into another year of homeschooling and daycare. This morning as I rushed from folding laundry to filling the dishwasher to cutting beans to stewing tomatoes to breaking up another disagreement with the preschoolers to feeding the kiddos breakfast....I was thinking of my Labor Day weekend sunset and I felt that God would certainly sustain me through the chaos of my life. And then I heard the following song on my morning play list. God IS amazing. During times of chaos it is essential to stop and notice just how amazing He is! Chris Tomlin's Indescribable From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea Creation's revealing Your majesty From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring Every creature unique in the song that it sings All exclaiming T...

http://www.wellplannedday.com/?oid=1044_1

Whew, the past two weeks have been a whirlwind. The Boy started football practice. Daycare has been hoppin' busy with a house full of kids, many of which are school agers and getting "bored". The garden has been overflowing with it's bounty which I've been busy preserving. Somehow while the kids are resting today I need to get my bags packed so that we can head out of town for the weekend. A long weekend "Up North" at the cabin is just what this weary mamma needs. Three days of nothing but reading, fishing, walking through the woods...and sleeping in! Here's what we've been up to:    Hubby's MG Midget went from this to this:  Curriculum Planning ~ I had great intentions of finishing my planning in June but then summer happened.   My dad went from here........      to here. I am still in awe of my dad. At the beginning of July he had a valve replacement surgery...at the end of August he's clim...

The Well Planned Day Home School Planner was helpful in keeping us on track last year. I've been looking at other planners and have thought of making my own (by using a binder and printing off free planning pages.) After factoring in the cost of paper and ink, not to mention the time involved, I decided that I am sticking with The Well Planned Day. Well Planned Day