Wednesday, February 27, 2013

February 14, 2013

 1.  naps
 2.  night time
 3.  Niagara Falls
 4.  notebooks
 5.  nails
 6.  Nile River
 7.  nativity sets
 8.  North
 9.  Norway
10.  nachos
11.  names
12.  neighbors 


February 13, 2013

 1.  Mark  (Ellis's dad -- Grandpa to our children)
 2.  moon
 3.  mail
 4.  monoply (deal)
 5.  maps
 6.  mist
 7.  milk
 8.  monkey
 9.  mittens
10.  MOOSE
11.  macaroni and cheese
12.  Montana
13.  Minnesota
14.  memories
15.  Mom


February 12, 2013

 1.  lamps
 2.  lambs
 3.  Lost Lake
 4.  Lake of the Woods
 5.  loons
 6.  life
 7.  letters  (in a mail box)
 8.  legs
 9.  light
10.  lollipops
11.  legos
12.  lincoln logs
13.  Littles  (books about these little people)
14.   laughter
15.  loft

Monday, February 11, 2013

February 11, 2013

 1.  kaleidoscope
 2.  kleenexes
 3.  knees
 4.  knitting
 5.  knots
 6.  knight in shining armor
 7.  knotty pine
 8.  kyanite
 9.  kittens
10.  knox blox



February 10, 2013

 1.  Jesus
 2.  jacks  (game)
 3.  jack-in-the-box
 4.  jump rope
 5.  jade  jasper  jet
 6.  jackets
 7.  January    
 8.  June
 9.  July
10.  jars
11.  jam/jelly
12.  jelly beans
13.  journal
14.  jute
15.  Johnny-jump-ups

There is a girl named Jade and a boy named Jet on my bus.  I looked these up  in World Book Encyclopedia --   "Jade is a hard, tough  and highly colored stone widely used for fine carvings and jewelry."    "Jet is a kind of coal so hard and uniform that it can be carved and polished to look like black glass."



February 9, 2013

 1.  indigo buntings
 2.  ink
 3.  Indiana
 4.  Indian Paintbrush
 5.  ice skating
 6.  ice cream
 7.  ideas
 8.  IKEA
 9.  ice fishing
10.  imagination
11.  India paper
12.  Indian corn
13.  idiosyncrasies
14.  islands
15.  ilmenite - a luminous black mineral composed of iron, titanium and oxygen




February 8, 2913

 1.  hoarfrost
 2.  horses
 3.  honey
 4.  hills
 5.  home
 6.  harvest
 7.  hay
 8.  hair
 9.  hands
10.  history
11.  humor
12.  hiking
13.  harps
14.  hibiscus
15.  hasty pudding

Do any of you remember a story in an old reader telling about three children who stayed home alone while their parents went to town?  They were given all sorts of instructions but the most important was - "Latch the door at dusk."   Which they promptly forgot.  That evening a hairy visitor came to call.  They scrambled up the ladder to the loft and sat in a row with legs dangling -- like three sparrows on a high line wire -- and watched while the black bear turned their cabin up side down.  I think he smelled the hasty pudding Betsy was making.  I was always curious about hasty pudding.  What is it and how do you make it?  Here is a process --

Hasty Pudding

Bring water to a boil in a pan.  Make sure the pan is big enough to allow room for boiling.  Cleaning up cooked corn meal off the stove is not fun.  =/
Use stone ground corn meal   (my personal preference)
Follow directions on bag for amounts
I stir a heaping tablespoon of flour into the corn meal then add milk. Use a wire whisk and stir until you have a smooth thickening as for gravy.  Take the pan off the burner while you stir in the corn meal.  Use the wire whisk and stir until everything is smooth.  Put back on the burner, stir until the mixture comes back to a boil.  Turn the burner down as low as possible, cover and let it simmer.
You can put a pinch of salt in too.  Just about forgot that little item.  Place the pan on a trivet or pot holder in the middle of the table.  Put bowls, spoons, milk and brown sugar on the table.  Gather everyone around and enjoy while you talk about the old days on the frontier.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Grandpa and Grandma



February 7, 2013

  1. Grandpa and Grandma
  2. goldfinch at feeders
  3. grape juice
  4. gardens
  5. gingerbread
  6. gymnastics
  7. grass
  8. garage sales
  9. gates
10. green
11. gazebo
12. gummy worms
13. granite
14. glass
15. garnet
16. giraffes




February 6, 2013

 1.  Florence  (Ellis's mom)
 2.  fingers
 3.  funny happenings
 4.  ferns
 5.  fields
 6.  fans
 7.  flickering fire  (in a)
 8.  fireplace
 9.  fences
10.  farms 
11.  flowers
12.  field trip  (school)
13.  family
14.  flavors
15.  flute
16.  faith
17.  friends
18.  finger painting
19.  feldspar
20.  February



Tuesday, February 5, 2013

E for Ellis

I see now what I could have done to make these lists in the right order.
Either I can let it bug me until I change it -- or I can let it remind me of what a
topsy-turvy, upside-down world we live in -- and let it go. 

I'll let you know what I decide. =)

The list for today:

 1.  eggs and bacon
 2.  elephants
 3.  ebony
 4.  eyes
 5.  ears
 6.  elbows
 7.  eggnog  (ours has vanilla in it -- not wine or brandy or whiskey =)
 8.  elves
 9.  elk
10.  Eeyore
11.  eyelet fabric or lace
12.  emeralds

Monday, February 4, 2013

thanksgiving A - Z

February 2, 2013

 1.  Birchbark
 2.  Blocks
 3.  Birds
 4.  Butterflies
 5.  Baskets
 6.  Books
 7.  Barns
 8.  Bells
 9.  Buttons
10.  Boxes (wooden)
11.  Broom
12.  Bears
13.  Blue
14.  Bible
15.  Beryl


February 3, 2013

 1.  Christ
 2.  Christians
 3.  cats
 4.  cups
 5.  cooks
 6.  cakes
 7.  cloth
 8.  clocks
 9.  coats
10.  cars   (grrrr - one gave up on life this morning - we had to tow it in)
11.  cabins
12.  colts
13.  cities
14.  clay
15.  color
16.  coffee and cookies
17.  crocheting
18.  chalcedony - a type of quartz with a waxy luster and microscopic crystals often forming colorful, parallel bands - according to the dictionary





February 4, 2013

 At first all I could think of for the letter D was stuff like dumplings and doughnuts, dodo birds and donkeys.  The only color I could think of was dun - which is a dull grayish brown.  When I asked for help more ideas began to flow.

 1.  dolls
 2.  ducks
 3.  dreams
 4.  dimples
 5.  dunes (sand)
 6.  daybreak  dawn
 7.  daisy
 8.  denim
 9.  diaries
10.  Dad
11.  deck
12.  deer
13.  daughters
14.  dollars 
15.  diamonds

Friday, February 1, 2013

After reading One Thousand Gifts  by Ann VosKamp  I began to record things I am thankful for.  Krysta helped me.  We started a notebook.  On New Year's Day I had a brain storm . . .   yes, I know,  that is so rare.  Why don't we look around us and make an alphabetical list? 

and so we began . . .
 1. apples
 2. aprons
 3. angels
 4. artists
 5. alphabet
 6. airplanes
 7. arrowheads
 8. aqua
 9. air
10. apple butter
11. antiques
12. antimacassar -- a small cover on the back or arms of a chair, sofa, etc. to prevent soiling  (according to Webster's Dictionary)
13. angel food cake
14. ambience - an environment or it's distinct atmosphere
15. amethyst
16. Amber