Category: Family

My daughter loves to write and draw. In fact, she normally does both daily after her homework and chores are finished. I would say that those two activities (for her) give her the same satisfaction that sewing, knitting and weaving do for me. Truth be told, I could spend hours doing those things… but I don’t because I love spending time with her.

My daughter isn’t new to websites. She had one when she was seven years old. I guess it’s natural that she wanted one. She’s known about website since she can remember. After all, I had them. I’ve had my own sites since 1995… When school started, she wasn’t writing there anymore. School kept her busy. Now that she’s older, she’s doing a much better job at managing her time and so she’s expressed an interest in having her website again.

When she was much younger, I encouraged her to express herself as soon as she was talking clearly. I guess you could say she received an early start with creative writing when she was four years old. I’d pick two topics and we’d have to come up with a story about them. Say, I chose “dog” and “rose” … we had to make story incorporating those two subjects in our story. It could server a major or minor role. Initially, she (mainly )listened as I wove a story based on the two topics that she chose. I’d pause throughout the story and encourage her to participate. As her confidence grew, she was able to take the two subjects that I’d selected and weave her own story without my help. At times, she still wanted me to contribute.

But back to her website, since it’s obvious that she’s serious about having one. I created one yesterday. I set aside some time , registered her domain name and am hosting her site under one of my hosting providers.

It’s her personal space, where she has control of what is published. I think it’s nice for children to have their little space where they are in control. It gives them an outlet where they can fully express themselves without worrying if they are doing something “correctly”.

I’m looking forward to seeing what she has to say and what artwork she chooses to share. If you use Facebook, check it out. I’ll be sending the link (to a few people) within the next few days.

The only thing my daughter wanted to do for Halloween was to stay at home and watch movies… We did and had a lot of fun.

Last year, I stumbled upon this picture and meant to post it for Halloween 2014,  but it slipped my mind. If I’d have been thinking, I would have set it up as an advanced post, just like I do for many of the posts here on Celebrate Life but… that didn’t happen.

I’ve always liked skulls, skeletons and pumpkin heads. Creepy for some, but oh so fascinating for me and boy does my mind start spinning when I see them.

Many of the stories I’ve written are a bit off the rails with their creepiness, so it’s safe to say that so this picture is perfect for me. I also think, this picture has a story that is begging to be told, don’t you? Last year, when I stumbled upon this picture, I let the picture do the talking… and before I knew it I had a story. I shared that  creepy little tale with my daughter.

Creepiness is nothing knew to me, as I mentioned before on this site, I started reading adult books when I was about six. I read Stephen King’s, The Shining (what I considered my first true adult books) when I was seven. The book, led me on a twisted path for books that were just as bizarre, twisted and macabre. I loved King’s writings, because many of the stories had shreds of reality woven throughout his demented tales.

For those who celebrated this day, Happy Belated Halloween!

The above clip from Lord of the Rings always makes me chuckle.

I can’t say that I want anything; perhaps continued health and plenty of times of bonding with my lovely daughter.

Well… I didn’t get ANY sewing completed this weekend and another weekend goes by without me working on my capsule. But there is a valid reason. I was canning most of Saturday!

Pears were picked off our pear tree and turned into delicious fruit butters that are so full of yum! I will post pictures of that process within the next few days.

Saturday, I checked on our honeybees and they are doing well. I’m thinking about adding a few more boxes on top of the hive, that way it’ll make it easier for me to feed them, if we have a long winter.

Sunday, my daughter had her last swimming lessons. Because of the time, we had to miss church. D, my daughters swim teacher is a college student and Sundays are her only free days. My daughter made her swim teacher, D,  a lovely card since it was her last swim class of the season and she made a lovely card for her swim teacher, D. D really loved the card and told me daughter that was the first time one of her students did that for her.

Today, I peeped in on my kraut, and it’s really starting to smell like kraut. I can’t wait to dig into it within a few months.

I do wish I could start sewing today after work, but I don’t think that’s happening. I have to purchase and deliver food to the local Homeless Shelter. Preparing food for the guests, is a ministry that our Lutheran church (along with other churches) provide for the local shelter.

So… while I didn’t get to work on sewing for me, I did get a lot accomplished this past weekend and of course it flew by. I do have plans to sew during the week and I’m looking forward to that.

This made me laugh…

Thankfully, my daughter is not one of those students that make their teachers nuts. Each year, her teachers tell me how well behaved she is and what a joy it is to have her in their class. She knows to pay attention in class and be respectful of others. I taught her that. She also does very well in her classes. The times she has struggled with various topics, I’ve helped her at home until she understood the concept.

But enough of the rambling, time to write about my daughter’s first day of school…

She had a great time! I wasn’t surprised, I knew she would after she got over the “back to school jitters”. Based on her skills, she was placed in the highest math class along with her best friend. There are three math classes for her grade. The children are placed based on their abilities. Naturally, I was one proud momma. It’s been a busy day for her and I heard all about it once I picked her up from school. Her two close friends she saw throughout the summer, but returning to school allowed her to reconnect with acquaintances and she met a few new students also. I pray that the students and teachers all have a wonderful year!

My daughter has been anxiously awaiting to return to school. She’s about to get her wish since it starts on Monday. This weekend, we’ll be purchasing last minute school supplies and hanging out together.

Additionally, we’ll be doing some canning and fermenting and it seems like tomorrow will be the perfect day to accomplish that since it looks like it will be cool and rainy.

Fall, canning and fermenting just seems to go together, although to be honest I can and occasionally ferment foods regardless of the season.

Today, my daughter has a playdate with her best friend. I dropped her off before I went to work, and will pick her up once I leave.

Recently, I enrolled my daughter into an eight session private lesson swimming class. Today was her second day and she started swimming! A few years ago, I tried to teach her but she was much to reliant on mommy always being there to venture out and try on her own. I figured hiring a swimming teacher for private lessons was a great option since she would not be as dependent on her (since she didn’t know her) and that would force her to learn some of the basic skills on her own. This summer, it looks like we’ll be spending more time at the pool.