smilemakers
It's the little things in every day that are putting an almost constant smile on my face lately. I'm still working lots (and happy about that), but the festive feeling in the air just can't be beat. Because this is a feeling I don't want to forget, here's a list of some of last weekend's smilemakers:
1. Participating in a community quiltmaking event.
2. Asking a certain silly boy to give me a hand with some twisted cordmaking. He scurried into my office a minute later with a little twisting contraption he made. Bzzz -- cord twisted -- zip zip zip! If you know Jesse, you know he must use batteries, switches, and gears in every possible situation!
4. Eating sushi late at night with three of my favorite kids.
5. Knitting two socks at a time, on one circular needle, from one ball of yarn. Just because.
6. Browsing an art museum with kids who are old enough to enjoy it.
7. Having told Contraption Boy that another pair of mittens would need cord made for them too, he scurried off to hislair workshop bedroom and emerged a few minutes later with a bigger, better, more complicated cord twister, talking about gear ratios and more power and other motorized details that give him a buzz.
9. Bumping into old friends everywhere we go, including as we were toodling down the highway, where we managed not to bump into them but still have a conversation at highway speeds.
10. Nibbling an entirely unexpected treat of African foods, offered for free and presented beautifully, at a Kwanzaa celebration.
11. Singing with the ukulele band at a show for folks with Alzheimer's.
12. Going dairy-free because I think I've become allergic. :-( Finding out that dairy-free alternatives are pretty tasty and do not cause me to feel like I'm suffocating from my own phlegm and swollen airway. :-) Bonus smiles from the fridge: The pickles made by some farmer friends include Love as one of their ingredients.
13. Watching Leah realize last night that in the past week she has knit on a gift equivalent in size to the body of a sweater. You could practically see the smoke coming out of her ears and there was a definite smile on her face as she realized that she could knit herself an actual sweater in the same amount of time.
14. Seeing a grand total of SIX live music performances over the course of the weekend, including a handbell choir whose shows I adore. They're not the group shown below, but they did play this song and it grabs me every time.
15. Reading on Handmade Homeschool about 29 Gifts. Thinking it would be a fun family project. Then realizing we were already doing it, had been doing it for as far back as I could remember, and would probably continue indefinitely because that's just what we do. Maybe giving all those little gifts, tangible and intangible, is the true reason for the smiles.
1. Participating in a community quiltmaking event.
2. Asking a certain silly boy to give me a hand with some twisted cordmaking. He scurried into my office a minute later with a little twisting contraption he made. Bzzz -- cord twisted -- zip zip zip! If you know Jesse, you know he must use batteries, switches, and gears in every possible situation!
4. Eating sushi late at night with three of my favorite kids.
5. Knitting two socks at a time, on one circular needle, from one ball of yarn. Just because.
6. Browsing an art museum with kids who are old enough to enjoy it.
7. Having told Contraption Boy that another pair of mittens would need cord made for them too, he scurried off to his
9. Bumping into old friends everywhere we go, including as we were toodling down the highway, where we managed not to bump into them but still have a conversation at highway speeds.
10. Nibbling an entirely unexpected treat of African foods, offered for free and presented beautifully, at a Kwanzaa celebration.
11. Singing with the ukulele band at a show for folks with Alzheimer's.
12. Going dairy-free because I think I've become allergic. :-( Finding out that dairy-free alternatives are pretty tasty and do not cause me to feel like I'm suffocating from my own phlegm and swollen airway. :-) Bonus smiles from the fridge: The pickles made by some farmer friends include Love as one of their ingredients.
13. Watching Leah realize last night that in the past week she has knit on a gift equivalent in size to the body of a sweater. You could practically see the smoke coming out of her ears and there was a definite smile on her face as she realized that she could knit herself an actual sweater in the same amount of time.
14. Seeing a grand total of SIX live music performances over the course of the weekend, including a handbell choir whose shows I adore. They're not the group shown below, but they did play this song and it grabs me every time.
15. Reading on Handmade Homeschool about 29 Gifts. Thinking it would be a fun family project. Then realizing we were already doing it, had been doing it for as far back as I could remember, and would probably continue indefinitely because that's just what we do. Maybe giving all those little gifts, tangible and intangible, is the true reason for the smiles.
posted by livnletlrn at 7:02 AM
4 Comments:
I went dairy free for a year while nursing my first and now we're not using eggs. Vegan cookbooks are a good source of yummy things made without either. I've never had to give up both at the same time, but taken together, but I wish I'd thought of looking to veganism when I was dairy-free. Sometimes, a girl just wants a treat, you know? :)
I hadn't heard of 29 gifts. It bothers me that this has to be a "movement." I can't succinctly explain my discomfort in a comment--I've tried. Just--yeah. It's either what you do (like you do) or ... not.
I agree with the suggestion of vegan cooking. A favorite cookbook of ours is Veganomicon. The Lentils and Rice with Carmelized Onions has become a regular meal for us. It's so fragrant when the basmati rice and lentils are cooking in cinnamon, cumin, allspice and cloves. And there are many other great recipes in the book as well!
It's a lovely list and it made me smile, too.
My 12 yr old son is having trouble finding tutorials in writing (books) or websites or videos for K'Nex rubber band guns. Do you have some sources from Jesse? My son recalls the ones that Jesse made.
Fantastic job on all your knitting.
And I can't believe that Scott almost chopped the tip of his thumb off. Good thing it was only the mitten that took the damage!
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