A compost bucket to store in the freezer. Pure awesomeness! No stink, no fruit flies, no mess.

  

I asked my friend, Jenn, if she had a compost pile. She said she did and THEN told me her fabulously famous idea.

She also said it was Pinterest worthy, but she knew she’d never do it. SOOOOO, she told me I could!!

The concept is this: instead of keeping a container somewhere in your kitchen, to toss food scraps for composting, you keep a bucket in your freezer. Once it’s almost full, add water and let it freeze. After a few hours….Voilà! A big, fat, lovely, somewhat-disgusting compost ice cube!!!

But, Jenn’s WAY too creative to be able to just stick a plastic tub in her ice box and call it a freezer compost bucket. I’m falling asleep just typing it.

Sooooo, here’s what she did…or what I did…after she told me what she did. Are you following me? Good.

What you’ll need:

Plastic bucket 

Printer (or design your own image)

Tape (I used painter’s tape)

Sharpies

Directions:

Start by having a birthday party & purchasing a big bucket of ice cream. (Thanks for doing that, Jenn, and for giving it to ME!)

Or skip the party, buy the ice cream, eat it all, feel horrible about yourself, decide to go on a diet, buy lotsa fruits & veggies, save the peels, the cores…I think you can see where this is all going.

Or buy any plastic tub, that will fit in your freezer.

Or use one you have kickin’ around.

Wash & dry the bucket. (Again, thanks Jenn!)

Are you getting the feeling that I’ve done nothing? Well, hold onto your carrot tops, ’cause I rocked this project!

  

Go to your computer and find some cute graphics to print off, that will fit on the side of your bucket. Or, create your own.
I chose this: (Just for the word “Compost”)

  

And this…(Just for the cute, chewed up apple)

 

Now, trim it down and tape to the INSIDE of your container, like so…

 

And this is the view from the outside:

  

Now, take your Sharpies and start coloring like its 1974!!!!!!!

That was the year I was in Kindergarten. So, what I’m saying is, please stay in the lines and keep things going in one direction. Thank you.

  
  

Wouldja look at that. 

  

I know that Mrs. Staples would be proud. 

Seriously. I had a teacher with the last name STAPLES. Was she my Kindergarten teacher? Oh, man, I don’t remember. I’m old. (Remember…1974?)  I think she was actually my 1st grade teacher.

But it’s as cool, or as hot, as Dr. Thermometer; if he exists.

Alright, back to business.

In my freezer, all ready for scraps. Gosh, isn’t it the cutest little freezer compost bucket ever Sharpied?

  

Here it is filled…

  

After adding water & freezing with the lid lightly on…

  

Running hot tap water over it. 

It only took a few seconds for it to be able to pop right out like a homemade popsicle on steroids!

  

Here’s the bucket. I didn’t even rinse it. I just plopped it back into the freezer. When I used to dump my compost pail, before this perfect creation, it was a fruit fly magnet, sticky, smelly and nasty to wash out!

  

And here it is, in my compost pile. 

Farewell, my little biodegradable frozen friend. 

  

If you end up making one, I’d love to see pix!! 

Happy freezer composting!

That’s me and my Mama back in 1969. I feel old.

Before I dive into what Christian Unschooling means to me, I want to zoom back in time and tell you a little bit about ME.

I was a typical kid, raised in the 70’s and 80’s.  The fall of the year I turned 5, after a wonderful start in life, being nurtured by my loving parents, I found myself thrown into a world that would change me forever.

My clothes were brand new.  I recall sitting on our toilet seat, while my Mom pulled on my tights.  A few photos were taken and the next thing I remember is the smell of pine cleaner and walking up creeky hardwood stairs, into my new school.

School.  A place I would spend approximately 1/3 of my life for the next 18 years.

I clung to my Mom, while the teacher encouraged other children to play, “Duck, Duck, Goose”. I just wanted to go home.  I wanted to hang out with my Mom.  I was only 5. But, sending your kids off to school was just what you did.

I was officially a government kid. I quickly learned how to open a small carton of white milk, although I don’t think I ever really mastered it, because… can anyone, really? I learned how to make a book cover out of a paper shopping bag. I got fresh air…. when I was told I could. Instead of just running into the bathroom, I had to raise my hand and get permission to pee. Even if I was hungry, I couldn’t eat until I was told I could eat. And I had to learn ONLY what they chose to teach me. Nothing more; nothing less. (at school, anyway.)

And the years went on.  I public school taught me some things that I still retain to this day, but most info. was lost due to only cramming to pass a test, then moving on to the next thing.

I made many friends.  I lost many friends.  I was popular.  I was an awkward geek. I felt secure. I felt insecure. I learned fast.  I learned slow. It really depended on the year, the class… if I truly cared about what they were teaching….my clothes……my bookbag………..the moon….. oh, I don’t know.  School is so weird.  Well, it is to me now.  Back then, it was just normal.

And summer.  OOOOOOH, how I loved summer. Freedom from learning (or so I thought, because learning to me was in a classroom), sleeping in when I was tired, enjoying ever sunny day; playing outside for hours.  It always went by so fast.

And oh how I wanted to vomit when “school” was back in the air.  All around me. Commercials about sales at stores, Kids getting new “school clothes”….the fair coming to town. It seemed like, as soon as I was getting into the good vibes of summer in Maine…. I was sitting at my desk, with my new boat shoes, pin-striped jeans, and my LLBean canvas tote…full of…..TEXTBOOKS. Gross.

That’s my childhood in a very small nutshell.  I could never say I loved school.  Some people did.  I kinda-sorta-not-really liked it and hated it at the same time.

So, backing up a bit.  What exactly DID I retain from K-12? Going to my Sherlock Holmes’ Mind Palace of deep memories from my past…aside from the basics of addition, subtracting, reading, spelling, etc… I remember things like my multiplication table, about 5 of the Presidents (I DID know ALL of them), that formaldehyde smells disgusting, the capitals of a few states, a bit of Algebra, absolutely nothing about chemistry except that h2o is water…. oh and co2 is carbon dioxide. I really loved the periodic chart of the elements.  I still do.  It’s pretty.

I’m sure there are other little tidbits, if I really cared to sit and think about it anymore.  But reality is, I’m now a stay-at-home-Mama, which was always my dream, and most of the things I learned in ALL those years, was useless.  Not that all school is useless… I’m just talking about ME, remember??  AND I am, obviously, talking about homeschooling vs. public schooling.  SO, even if my dream was to be a doctor, being subjected to all the UNNECESSARY information you learn in public school and not being able to FULLY learn the things MORE RELEVANT to what I’d need to know to become a Dr… seems like so much wasted time to me.

So….. unschooling.

I love this quote by Carolanne Wright (a contributing writer for Wake Up World)…

“Unschooling is a method of homeschooling that puts the learning in the hands of the learner.”

As a Christian, I could never let my kids have full control of their education, but I’d say at least 90% of my kid’s lives are in their own hands.

I teach.  How can I not?  “Mom, what color is that?  Mom, how do you spell, ‘balloon’? Mom, what is that bug? Mom, why can I see the moon during the day?” When? Where? Why? How? How many? Aaaaaallll daaaaaaay loooooong. And it’s wonderful and exhausting at the same time.  BUT, it’s my job.

I also teach… when I observe, due to a child’s non-interest, that there are gaps in their learning. The things I find very important. Like: math to my 14 year old daughter, writing to my 13 year old son……. manners to my 9 year old son. Usually, there aren’t many gaps I find THAT important, but language arts & math are biggies…..and not burping to make people laugh. 🙂

In Part 2, I will move on to how we became a homeschooling family and how we fell into Unschooling. Then my Intro will be over and I’ll start blogging about my personal life as an unschooling Mama.  Feel free to ask me any questions along the way!

Bye for now! ~ Bridget

I remember how I felt after finally getting MY braces off!  Now it’s my oldest son’s day to shine!

You look GREAT, Cam!!

My electronic fast story. Week One.

(bear with me, this is a long post)

I will be listing different things that happened each day (for the whole month of October…one week per blog post) and including photos here and there.  For those who like detail, I will be adding a lot.  Those who don’t can just skim around.

(And just for the record, I am writing this blog post after almost a whole month has gone by!  Each day of my journey, I have kept good notes! I’ve had many people ask me how our fast has gone, so I wanted to make sure to post as a way to encourage others!!)

Ok…so the chocolates have nothing to do with this post, but I thought I’d try to keep your attention!  (They were from my Husband) Now…

Here are my:

6 homeschooled children, ranging in ages from 2 to 15…

Now picture them going about their day at home, instead of apple picking.

Picture one of those children (a certain 7 year old boy with fire under his feet) jumping like crazy playing a Wii game in the Living Room. Then picture another 2 more of those children, the oldest and the youngest, laying on the couch side-by-side. One is on his iPad with his tiniest sister beside him on his iPod. Then picture an 11 year old girl, on the other couch, vegging out to music on her MP3 player. And last but not least, picture the other 2 kids, one 8 year old girl on the laptop and the other 10 year old boy on the computer, playing the ever famous, “Minecraft”.

OH and don’t forget to picture Mama, also going about her day…

In the morning, catching up on Facebook from her Android phone, putting a tv show on for “Squeaky”, then knitting the morning away drinking coffee.  You hear Mama saying, “Yes, you can have your 1/2 hour on the computer” and “Only a little while on your iPad!”  Although knitting should be UNstressful, Mama is stressed thinking about if she’ll be able to school the kids this morning, get the granola made, and catch up on the piles of laundry. “Hey, you’re 1/2 hour was up A HALF HOUR AGO!!!!  Get off the computer and give someone else a chance!!!” And then she says to her little “Squeaky”, “come and see Mama so I can change your diaper” and her response….”in minute!”  Sheesh…where did she hear THAT from??

Well…

That was the story of my life!!!!

For years, I have desired a life without all the crazy. I’d do this and that to make it a “little” better but it honestly never got much better. I felt like Henry, in “Henry and the Great Society“. (if you haven’t read this great book… do it!!!)

The world was caving in on me and I just couldn’t fight it. Then it hit me.

On Sept. 28, 2012, I was talking to a friend about how frustrating it was to me to see my son on his iPad so much! She told me how her daughter could be on electronic devices for 6 or more hours a day and that every now and then she needed to “fast”. So, that week she had taken the internet away from her because her homeschool assignments weren’t done.

This got me thinking.

SO, after only a couple days of planning, I started our “2 Week Electronic Fast”. It was October 1, 2012, which was a good starting point to calculate the 2 weeks easier.

Only problem was…

after the 2 weeks, I wasn’t ready to give up my peace!!

Here is my story as I am typing on Day #28 of our fast! I am going to backtrack and start from…

DAY ONE.

It couldn’t have been a more perfect week to start.

My oldest son had gone to a friend’s for the week to go through the Bill Gothard seminar, “Basic Life Principles“.  I knew, although he may do a little electronics while he was there, it would be a great time to get my younger 5 kids adapted to our “electronic fast” life.  In my mind, my 15 year old would end up being the most difficult, so it was just easier for him to not be here.  The younger kids seemed more pliable to me at the time.

I woke up to my 2 year old, “Squeaky”, asking for her daily morning “show”.  She wanted to watch, “Veggitales”, but when I said she couldn’t, she absolutely had a complete nutty!  Super meltdown at it’s finest!  And rebelliously, she walked over to our computer, unplugged her big brother’s iPod and said, “ready?” and pushed onto a song.  Needless to say, nutty #2 happened. Honestly, that was it.  She never had even ONE more meltdown over not being allowed electronics.  Not ONE!

My 8 year old daughter, “Beanie”, woke up and I read some books to them.  Then my youngest son, 7 year old “Toodles” (that’s his desired “stage” name for when he does concerts for us haha), woke and I sent all three upstairs to pick up their rooms. Once all of the kids were up and dressed, they played upstairs between meals and got along great! A lot of the day was spent cleaning up in the kids bedrooms, stripping beds, vacuuming mattresses, etc.  I went through lots of clothes and did loads or organizing. The first day was a success.

DAY TWO.

“Squeaky” asked for a show in the morning and I reminded her that we were not watching anymore tv and she was JUST fine about it.  Her big 10 year old brother, “Noogie” was awake, so she played with him! All morning the kids did their own thing!  From playing dolls, to reading, to playing Legos.  (if you look closely, in the back, they have a whole band set up!! haha)

While my oldest son was away, I took some time to clean up his bed area and to get his bed all fresh for when he returned home! Although Day One was great (most “new” things are awesome…at first), I had a bit of naughty behavior to deal with.  I made sure to mark, in my “electronic fast” notes, of who and what the offense was.  I hold almost daily meetings with my kids, so I make sure to point out certain mishaps during our talks.

I had kids arguing about doing dishes and other chores and kids acting fussy over silly things.  It’s hard to get used to doing other things rather than have plugged in things entertain you!

As for me, I started reading, “Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style“.  Quite a few years back I had won a copy from the Bluedorn’s during a blog contest.  As soon as I saw, “Classical Style”, I set it on my bookshelf to ignore it.  I had always labeled myself as a “Relaxed Style” homeschooler and from what I had seen from “classical homeschooling”, it went against all I stood for!!

The most important part I missed was the “Christian” part!!!  But, it’s funny how God allows things until just the right time!  As I was reading along, in the very first chapter, I read a scripture verse they mentioned:

Romans 12:2 “And fashion not yourselves to this age: be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order for you to test and prove what is the will of God: what is good, and acceptable, and fully-formed”

Wow!  That was JUST what I needed to read!!!  The Lord was showing me how this “fast” from all things plugged in, was renewing our minds!!!  It was transforming us!!  It was only Day Two, but I had seen renewal already!!!  Thank you, Lord!!!!

Each and everyday, (with the exception of maybe just a couple), I have studied this book and have gained so much wisdom from this wonderful couple!  They use the bible to support their view on teaching our children and have lots of practical advice!

So Day Two continued and I planned a “school area” in the room I’ve always loved teaching in…the Dining Room.  I decided I wanted an easel to hold our dry erase board and we actually went out and bought a bunch of supplies to make one, until my Husband remembered we had a really nice easel in the spare room!  Duh!  How did I forget THAT??

Here I am on our “good for nothing” trip to the hardware store. haha But… nothing is a waste of time, really.  It was all just part of the process.

Here is my cute little easel holding my dry erase board!  I love it and use it ALL the time now!

Here are a few pix from Day Two 🙂

My 11 year old, “Poco”, made a little bed for her beloved, “Sparky”…

“Beanie” gathered her dolls and had fun playing on her bed…

“Squeaky” and “Noogie” hanging out in the boys room…

And “Toodles” banging away, “August Rush” style, on our “mostly string-less” guitar…

OH and on Day Two, I decided I also needed a new set of cubbies in the school room.  “Squeaky” decided she’d help me build them after Daddy bought them…

Getting there!! She decided Barney needed to “help out” too! (that’s him wrapped in the pink blankie haha)

Finished!  Ahhh…I love my little cubbie.  But since it only has room enough for each child to have a spot for their school books, (later on in the month) I found another one like it I already had (hidden in a closet with junk in it) and had my oldest son take on the task of cleaning it out!  Now it sits on top of this one and my Alphabet posters are to the right of the window!

As Day Two went on, I had a few bad attitudes to deal with.  “Noogie” was still in his PJ’s at noon and gave me a hard time about getting dressed because he wanted to feel “cozy” haha.  Then after complaining and being disciplined, he said that he was just going to change into MORE PJ’s!!!!  Well, needless to say…I won the battle and he actually wore day clothes!!

And, being creatures of habit, I thought of a few things I had to do online….then remembered I couldn’t GO online!!  OOOOPS!!!  The kids aren’t the only ones that need “renewed minds”!!!!

So, Day Two ended with lots of cranky kids going to bed…well…cranky.

DAY THREE.

Our morning was spent with me talking with my Husband about all of my organization plans and how happy I was without Facebook, updating my Ravelry everyday, Instagram on my Android…blah blah blah.  Without tv on through the day, even with the kids busy around the house…it was “quiet”.

“Squeaky” asked for “a show” but, again, was fine when I reminded her that she can’t.  She just went upstairs to play.

I spent the rest of the morning organizing photos…

The girls ended up painting…

The boys played Legos on the car carpet…

The rest of the day was very productive!  The kids played the day away while I did regular chores and some organizing of the kids journals that I keep.

I used the computer for a few minutes to prepare an order for Associated Buyers! But got off quick in order to not be tempted! haha

The evening was a struggle with more bad attitudes and grumpy behavior.  It was SO loud that I had a hard time settling “Squeaky” down to sleep.  I decided to have a long talk with them on Day Four about how our evenings are going to be QUIET from now on!

Now onto…

DAY FOUR.

I wrote in my journal, “Love my new quiet mornings!”

But I laid in bed that morning and figured I’d get up and order some photos for the kids journals.  UGH.  Realization that it’s our “Electronic Fast” and I couldn’t.  I can’t take time to do THAT when there were other messes to organize!!  Priorities, Bridget, PRIORITIES!!!

“Squeaky” was funny.  She asked, “Show?” but she was saying it to make me laugh!!!  Her expression was the cutest!  She KNEW my answer before she asked the question!

I love her.

I had a great meeting with all FIVE of the kids.  (Reminder… my oldest son is still away at his friends!)

Being a bit creative, I pondered over some things I wanted to talk with them about, and came up with this alliteration:

Bible Believers, Best Behaviors, Bathing Beauties, and Book Brains.

Aren’t I witty? haha

So I explained how I felt these were the most important things we needed to focus on:

Getting Closer in our walks with the Lord by reading God’s Word daily, being obedient & respectful, caring for our bodies and appearance, and gaining in knowledge, understanding and wisdom!

After our meeting, the kids got ready for the day and I told them it was a…

CLEANING DAY!!!

All on his own, my littlest boy, “Toodles” (hehe I still giggle whenever I write it), decided to clean out our “not-in-use-but-messy” television stand.  He noticed “Noogie” was playing with the guitar and that he wasn’t working like I’d asked!  Then he said, “I’m not doing this to earn computer.  I’m doing it because we are having company tomorrow!” And in my journal I wrote, “Awwwwwww.”

Then of course, “Noogie” had to defend himself.  After hearing his little brother say, “You’re not cleaning!”…his VERY respectful and loving response was, “Yes I am, you little brat!!!”  (another naughty behavior jotted down in my journal to use as a moment of teaching later on!!!) After being disciplined and apologizing…he got to work too!

This is the section under where our tv sits, where we keep our Wii stuff.  Great job, “Toodles”!!!

The kids did a GREAT job at cleaning their rooms!!  I was very proud of them!

Here’s the girls room:

And here’s the boy’s room…

Then after cleaning, “Poco” decided to make cookies!  After making them a few times with me, she is completely making them on her own and it’s so nice!  Whenever I don’t feel up to making the kids a snack, I can ask her to make something!  She’s so handy in the kitchen!!!

The evening of DAY FOUR was a learning experience for me.

The kids had a quiet night and got off to bed great!  I brought Suri up to our bed, got her to sleep, and actually fell asleep myself.  BUT I ended up waking up at 10PM to find my Husband had gotten “Domino’s Pizza”! haha So I had a piece and…

watched a little tv with him.  It was a show full of violence and I hated it.  We ended up shutting it off and went to bed! ha

Lesson learned… TV STINKS!

DAY FIVE.

I woke up with my little “Squeaky” and this is what I wrote in my journal…

“We colored and I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I did.  I loved that time with her”…

As soon as “Beanie” and “Toodles” were up, they gathered around and colored with her as I had coffee with my Husband.  “Noogie” woke up and just did this and that around the house.  What a blessing to have them just relaxing instead of hyped up with electronics! “Poco” slept later.  That’s just what 11 year old girls do who stay up too late reading!!!

I have been reading more of “Teaching the Trivium” and have gained so much wisdom from it!  I wrote in my journal, “I’m so thankful for the Lord leading me.” And thankful, I am!

Well, when it came time for breakfast, sweet “Toodles” asked to help me make pancakes.  What a little helper I have!!

At about 11 am, “Squeaky” fell asleep while she was nursing!  She NEVER does that anymore!  She’s 2.5 for crying out loud!  She barely even naps!  I think it was always because she was in front of the tv, and now she is learning to listen to her body!

The kids played nicely and I had a long talk with “Beanie” and “Toodles” because they had questions about adoption.

I washed the floors downstairs, and yet again, Mr. “Toodles” decided to help me clean!  He vacuumed the couches ALL over and UNDER!  He is awesome!

We ended up cleaning more to get ready for afternoon company!

“Beanie” was one child to give me a hard time.  I asked her to clean out the clubhouse, but she wanted to clean the yard like some of the other kids were!  I ended up enlisting one of the others to help her (after talking to her about no fussing!!!!!) since it WAS really messy and would have seemed overwhelming to anyone!

Then there was “Noogie”.  Before obeying me and cleaning, he wanted to “read 10 more pages!”  Then after I set him straight, he took his jolly old time getting dressed (YUP…still in his PJ’s haha) and then decided to eat a cold piece of pizza before working.  More guidance and discipline by Mama.

Our company came and we all had a blast!  For dinner we made mini pizzas…aren’t they cute? Can you find the one with the face? (made by my wonderful friend, Cindy!) ~ Love ya, MB!!!!

Before the day ended, we reinforced our house rule:

NO SHUTTING BEDROOM DOORS…EVER!

While company was here, the boys shut their door because they “didn’t want the girls coming in” and the girls shut their door and blamed it on one of the kids that were visiting.  Neither excuse was gonna fly with Mama!!!  My kids KNOW our rules!  I told them that if they did not obey my rules, then (thanks to the advice of my friend) THERE DOORS WERE COMING OFF!!!  I think they got the hint!

I didn’t write anymore notes for Day FIVE so I’m moving on to Day SIX!

DAY SIX.

I didn’t take any photos on Day SIX except this one.  Sometimes I take odd photos for no apparent reason.

We had a very quiet morning and then a productive day!  Started out with my youngest coloring, then her sister got up and played with her and they stuck stickers onto paper.  Then the littlest brother got up and joined them.

Off and on all morning, as the kids got up, they took their baths or showers!

I read more of “Teaching the Trivium” and “Poco” and “Noogie” were reading on the couch beside me!

FINALLY!!!  It was time to go and pick up my OLDEST SON!!  YAY!!!  He was missed SO much!!!!

After going through his seminar…he came home with LOTS to talk about!!  All that time I thought HE’D be the most difficult with no electronics, but he had been so convicted by the seminar, that it wasn’t going to be as bad as I thought!  He was actually on fire for wanting to stay focused! Woo hoo!!  Thank you, Lord!!

The day ended with ALL of my children under our roof.  Ahhhh.  Peace!

Now as I’m typing, Genesis popped into my mind.  “So the evening and the morning were…”

DAY SEVEN.

Phew… the first week was almost over!  We survived without electronics!!!

I woke to a very messy downstairs.  That’s one thing I’ve noticed…and expected.  Life without electronics means life with lots more MESSES!  And we had gone to bed lazy and hadn’t picked up after the previous nights activities!

Before the kids got up, I cleaned around the house.

And since I didn’t take any pix (with my phone) this day EXCEPT another random one, I guess I have to post that just to keep you reeled in!

My breakfast.  An english muffin, fried egg w/ cheese, fried onions & garlic and ham. Yum.

We ended up taking the kids to the park once everyone was dressed and fed!  And I just remembered that I DID take more pix but on our regular camera!  Let me go and hunt for a couple pix from the park…

Ok…so I found more than a couple!  I tend to take a lot of photos with my digital as opposed to my phone.  I’ll just post one of each of the kids…

“Squeaky”…

“Toodles”…

“Beanie”…

“Noogie”…

“Poco”…

And my biggest guy, “Cam”… (no silly name for him because that would just be embarrassing).  I didn’t get one of him alone so I added one of him doing a biggest guy kinda thing…

Oh…alright.  I don’t want to list him as family, but it would break “Poco’s” heart if I didn’t.  Last AND the least (ha)…

“Sparky”…

The rest of the day I spent planning for schooling the next day!  Daddy took the boys to buy walkie-talkies they wanted and the girls just played around the house.

I used the computer again to order library books and to print off some information I needed.

I also let the kids listen to music on the computer for the first time all week.  I decided to not let them listen to their MP3 players or the iPod until I search through the music and take off any Christian music that is hardrock.  Some of their CD’s have great songs, but others are not my cup of tea for them!

So… we made it through the first seven days!  The 5 kids that were home all week were used to our new lifestyle, but I was curious how the 2nd week would go with my big kid home!!

I will post about WEEK TWO very soon!!!

Feel free to leave comments!  I love them!!!

~ Bridget

Time to give something away to someone… actually a few somethings! I love giving and it’s been a while since my last contest!  The Rafflecopter contest is below but keep reading to see what you could win!  This contest will last a week and starts tomorrow, June 6, 2012!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I am in the swing of getting my “Squeakin’ Cheeks” shop hoppin’ again, and wanted to start things off with a giveaway!  Why am I not holding this over at my shop’s blog?  That’s a good question!  Well, it’s because I am trying to kill 2 birds with one stone, so to speak.  I am working hard to make this blog active along with my shop and decided to just squish them together!

SO…on with the CONTEST!  Once you have looked at what I’m giving away, scroll down to the Rafflecopter section and ENTER!!

#1… You will receive a tester of my little toy food design (soon to be sold with other toy foods on my “Squeakin’ Cheeks” shop)… a tortilla wrap, a leaf of lettuce, a leaf of spinach, half a slice of tomato, a pickle, and 2 half slices of deli cheese!  All are made with random fabrics, mostly 100% cotton and the tomato has a wee bit of batting inside!  **Remember… keep any small toys like this out of reach of children who still love to suck on or pop things into their mouths!!**

#2.  The winner will also receive this American Girl style doll outfit.  It fits 18″ American Girl and comparable sized dolls.  This outfit includes a 100% cotton shirred top with buttonhole back for strap, 100% handknit merino wool pants (remember, I am “The Knitting Maniac”!!!) w/ tiny duplicate stitched design, and handmade foam sandals!

This photo shows the back of the cute shirt!

THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING!!!

The winner of my blog contest is…. RONDA T.!!  Congratulations, Ronda!!  I will be sending you a copy of your Budgie Bloomer pattern and if you could please email me your mailing address, I can get your woolies out!  My email is: theknittingmaniac@hotmail.com 🙂

THANK YOU, EVERYONE, for being a part of my contest!!  Keep your eye out on my Facebook page for more giveaways!!!

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I created a cute little dishcloth and am offering it FREE ON RAVELRY, but you don’t have to be a Ravelry member (although it is also FREE and AWESOME, so you SHOULD be!!!!)… you can just download the pattern from the link on my sidebar!

This is what OPTION #2 of the dishcloth looks like.  It measures 8″ X 8″.  I thought it would be nice for those who like to knit squares and then seam them together to make blankets!

This was my tester (OPTION #1) which ended up to be 8″ across by 9″ high.  The pattern includes the extra middle rows 🙂

I hope you enjoy my pattern!  If you knit it up, please make sure to comment here to let me know what you think of it and add it to your Ravelry projects!!  If you send me a photo, I’d love to add it to my blog!  Thanks a bunch!!

I finally found time to get a contest up and rolling along!!  This is my first time using Rafflecopter, so we’ll see how I like it!!  


This contest starts tomorrow, April 25, 2012 and last for a week and ends May 2, 2012!! 


VIEW DETAILS UNDER GIVEAWAY SECTION

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a Rafflecopter giveaway
Here’s what I decided to give away: (all for the love of newborn babies!!!!)  


#1. A little matching set of Newborn Cestari Fine Merino longies and matching knit ball! If you are expecting, hope to be expecting, have a newborn, know someone who is pregnant, hope you will soon know someone who is pregnant, want to randomly giveaway a pair of longies to a perfect pregnant stranger, love wool, love playing ball, etc… this contest is for you!

#2. A free Budgie Bloomer Knitting Pattern so that you can either:

• Knit some cute woolies up yourself (if you know how to knit!
• LEARN how to knit so you can get addicted like me and knit lots of woolies…OR… 
• Beg your bestest knitter friend to knit you another pair!!!

“May the odds be evah in your favah.”  Sorry.  I HAD to say that!!

I have found as a homeschooling Mama, that it’s the simplest of things (usually FREE) that keeps my kids occupied for the longest time!

A few days back, my kids were visiting a neighbor. She called and told me they wanted to bring home a refridgerator box and wanted to know if it was ok. Was it ok??? OF COURSE! Heck, I used to go to store after store begging for big oversized boxes! Due to some of the new recycling rules of stores, they usually quickly prepare them for recycling and they don’t give them away!! SO, YES. YES. YES!!!!!

Every now and then my youngest would get a little scared by it’s hugeness…

And every now and then she thought it was super fun…

Until they stood it up… then she was freaked again! haha Run away!!!!

I had so much fun just watching THEM have so much fun!!!

I was glad my baby girl was in front and not behind or she would have been flattened into a little woolie pancake!!!

I was watching my youngest son love on his baby sister and it’s really just so darn sweet to not want to hang this photo on the wall and look at it every time I see him tease her like a crazy, wild child!!

This one too. They may drive each other crazy, but who’s there for you when your Crocs fall off? Yup, that’s right!! Your littlest Big Brother!

You can tell she was very thankful…awwww.

I love this little squeaker!

After a while, she got tired of the box hype and came over to sit with her biggest Big Brother! She’s his #1 fan!

My oldest and youngest. I am surely blessed!

This is off topic (although this whole post is off topic because it has NOTHING to do with knitting whatsoever!!), but here are some sweet daffodils from the big-cardboard-box-donating neighbor! She and her daughter are so sweet!

And I’m ending with this photo. After I was done taking pix of the kids, I looked over at our brick wall and saw the lone name, “Jesus”. My 11 year old daughter had written it in chalk and it was too beautiful to ignore! My oldest son had grabbed my camera and took this of me using my phone’s camera to capture it and send it to Instagram! (my new addiction!!!) If you get the Instagram App on your phone, look me up and “follow” me! I’m, of course, TheKnittingManiac!

Goodbye for now! Get those needles clicking!!!

Bridget

When I’m not knitting, this what what keeps me busy: Raising 6 home-schooled kids.

Wait…there’s someone missing!!!

My heart actually stopped for a minute when I got ready to ask my son to grab my camera and wondered where my little girl had gone! OH YA, I was nursing her!! It’s one of those “am I getting Alzheimer’s” moments! (like when you are talking on your cell phone and scouring the house FOR your cell phone until you finally realize the facts and feel completely ridiculous!! ~ ESPECIALLY when you DON’T realize it on your own and ask if anyone’s seen it and hear, “you’re ON it, Mom!!!” haha)

Multi-tasking Mama. Devotions and reading to my kids and nursing my precious little 2 year old.

I DID knit this morning (or COURSE) and am working on a sweater for my daughter. I am doing a “Random Ravelry Post” about it that I will publish when it’s done, but this is what I have so far…

Using up lots of wool scraps!!

So after I talked with the kids about a few things I had on my mind and read a few scripture verses to back up my convictions, I read more of this book that we are reading…

I’ve read it before and will read it here and there through the years because it helps me remember how great a quiet & simple life is! I think everyone should read it!!

It talks about Henry and his family and how their simple life ends up not so simple as society progresses. Whenever I read it, I think back to the way life was when I was a kid. I shared a few stories this morning about how we used to sit at “Bernard’s Market” in the carts in the entryway and talk for hours. We’d say, “the next man that comes in you are going to marry someday” and in would walk and old man with a cane and we’d all giggle!! There was a soda machine in the middle of the entry aisle and you’d crank the lever and your glass bottle of pop would come down and you’d pop off the cap with the silver cap remover thingy on the machine. Oh, the simple days when there were no cell phones, hand held games, etc.

Anyway, I love gathering my kids around the table to re-group and get our focus on the Lord. I was blessed this morning that my baby girl decided to leave her waffles & banana and snuggle up with me. She nursed a while and fall asleep…

Ahhhh… a nice quiet morning to blog and then get a few dishes done while she does this for a while…

Have a wonderful day and remember to keep a lookout for upcoming contests and fun giveaways!!!

And remember…

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” ~ 1 Corinthians 10:31

🙂 Bridget