Whiteley Creek Homestead

grocery shopping for kids

I was cleaning today and ran across three envelopes that carried me back twenty-five years or so. This is my daughter Lisa's envelope with some of the coupons that were tucked inside. 

 

When my kids were young, they clipped coupons to earn money. For each coupon I used, they received the money that was deducted from my total receipt. To keep the earnings equitable, I selected coupons from each of them. As each coupon was used, they recorded the amount on the back of their envelope for reimbursement. They were also responsible for locating the item in the store. When my daughter Heather had her own kids, she devised her own strategy. When her oldest daughter was five, she made grocery lists for her. The list might include "apples" or "winter squash" but didn't specify honey crisp apples or buttercup squash. Her daughter could choose the kind she wanted. It gave her a real-life purpose for reading, allowed her to make choices, and made a trip to the grocery store interactive.       

knit dishcloths

It has become a tradition... to go to the autumn craft festival, which is held at the Brainerd (Minnesota) Senior High School in October (and again in November for Christmas items), to stock up on handmade knit dishcloths. Today was the day.  

  

I choose to purchase dishcloths from the same woman, whose booth is set up in the same location each year, for $2.50 each or 5 for $10.00 even though I discovered she was undercut by a competitor this year who is selling hers for $1.50 apiece. It a loyalty thing. Truly, at either price it's a labor of love. I chose two autumn colored ones and three that are stitched in brighter, summery colors to celebrate the amazingly perfect, warm, sunny October days we have been blessed with all week. If you've never washed dishes with a knit dishcloth, you absolutely must. It's like a combination dishcloth and scrub pad. I use nothing else.   

fort and field shop

When they were young, each of my three daughters played for hours creating handmade products that they displayed and "sold" to each other in their elaborate stores set up in our basement. My youngest daughter, Jessie, has recreated an adult version of her childhood "store". She has a real-life venue to sell her products in her fort and field etsy shop and fort and field web site. She also maintains a blog. Her sister, Lisa, who is a graphic designer, helped her create her "brand" by designing her logo and business cards and has mentored her in the art of packaging.

 
Now, her sister Heather, who is a children's book illustrator, has come on board by designing a line of toppers for Jessie's striped straws that she sells in her etsy and online shop. These photo collages show a teeny tiny sampling of what she offers.

 
Jenny, over at Hank + Hunt (abbreviated to represent her sons Henry and Hunter), recently stumbled upon Jessie's shop and in her words "me plus fort & field = kid in a candy shop." Jenny interviewed Jessie asking her questions such as why she started a shop, where she gets her inspiration, etc. It's a must read! My three daughters make their momma proud... for use of their God-given talents, their ingenuity, and perseverence... yes, but their support of each other most of all.

rubber duckies

 
  
Oh, I do so love it when things click so effortlessly. My neighbor had a baby and I wanted to bring a gift over, but I didn't have an overabundance of time to shop... or even to ponder too long. My daughter Heather illustrates children's books, so that was a start... a book is always nice... and a book with ducks that squeak is even better. I wanted to expand upon the theme and there it was! The cutest little Carter's set with ducks stitched onto it! (The duck head is really on the rear of the pants.) FYI, Heather's other books include: Buzz-Buzz Busy Bees (buzzing bees sound effect), Math Fables, Good Night Sweet Butterflies, Speedy Little Race Cars (vrooooming sound of race cars), Ten Tiny Fairies (twinkling lights), Rock It Sock It Number Line, Word PLay ABC (illustrated and written by Heather), and Ten Friends. They are available online at Barnes&Noble, as well as other web sites and various stores. I have copies of each title autographed by Heather for sale, as well.

April 4, 2010

Today's Mileage: 5-mile bike ride  

Total Mileage for April: 11.25 miles 

Bible reading? Yes

 

April 5, 2010

Today's Mileage: 2-mile walk  

Total Mileage for April: 13.25 miles 

Bible reading? Yes

 

April 6, 2010

Today's Mileage: 0  

Total Mileage for April: 13.25 miles 

Bible reading? Yes

 

April 7, 2010

Today's Mileage: 4.25-mile bike ride 

Total Mileage for April: 17.5 miles 

Bible reading? Yes

 

April 8, 2010

Today's Mileage: 4.75-mile bike ride 

Total Mileage for April: 22.25 miles 

Bible reading? Yes

 

 

spring blog cleaning

 

If you have been a frequent visitor to my site, you may have had the same reaction that my youngest daughter Jess had when she recently stopped by for a read. "I almost jumped back from the screen because I was surprised to see flowers. So big and bright and pretty!"  For the past couple days on my blog, I have been "rearranging furniture for a new look, picking up odds and ends strewn about and putting them back where they belong, sweeping away the cobwebs, picking a bouquet of wildflowers for the kitchen table, and throwing open the windows to let some fresh air" into my site. The impetus for the cleaning frenzy was my daughter Lisa's graphic designer eye, and simply... her new eyes peering in and providing "unsolicited" (Lisa's word) suggestions. My blog's spring cleaning is not complete, but please do stop by for a visit.  (Picture is from a Dick & Jane workbook circa 1962.) Note:  I thought it would be helpful to be "at the door to greet you"... just to reassure you that you were indeed at the right blog address. So, for yesterday's post, I moved an older post into that position... one with a photo of me and a bit of an introduction.  

staples ink recycling

Gather together your empty ink cartridges (any brand) and head over to your neighborhood Staples for a heckova deal, but don't tarry. The offer ends the day after tomorrow on Saturday, December 19, 2009.

 
Staples, on a regular basis, offers $3.00 in store credit for each empty ink cartridge with an allowable maximum of ten per month but, with this particularly generous offer, you can earn $6.00 per cartridge for a limited time (November 30, 2009 - December 19, 2009) if you spend $50.00 on HP ink and recycle empty cartridges in the same day. Would you believe that I happened to stop by Staples on November 30 (the 1st day of the offer) to purchase some black ink and even had 10 empty cartirdges with me?!! This is significant because, since it was the final day of November I was able to take advantage of the 10 per month restriction and then turn in 10 more in the month of December. Below is my November recycling summary which shows I earned $30.00 in-store credit for the month of November (10 cartidges x $3.00 ea. = $30.00 x 2 (double offer) = $60.00. This report is received via email after you set up an online account on staples.com. 

 
Here's my reward certificate for the month of November that I received in the mail yesterday...

 
and I still have a $60.00 reward certificate coming yet for the cartridges I recycled this month (December). That's $120.00 I earned with two separate trips to Staples and a minimum purchase of $50.00 of printer ink each time! Now that makes me happy... very happy. You can be happy too...  

 

farmhouse white kitchen cupboards

The big unveiling has finally arrived. The kitchen cupboard painting project is complete. This is the Martha Stewart "Hollyhock Red" paint that covered the original dark walnut stain. I liked the red color, but I have just one small window over the kitchen sink that looks out onto my screened backporch and it was way too dark. Kitchens need to be bright and cheerful, so it's five years later and I started all over.

The cupboards are now what I have dubbed farmhouse white. That's really not the official paint color name because I had Sherwin Williams do a color match. There is no name... just a formula on the paint can.

Peeking out at the top of the photo, notice the rolling pin for a curtain rod. I have a pair of them that the curtains' tabs are tied onto. They carry out the theme of the kitchen's decor... the old silverware hook door handles and measuring cup and cookie cutter drawer pulls. To change things up a bit and add variety, there are wooden knob drawer pulls interspersed throughout. It turned out just as I had envisioned. Now if I could figure out where I could build a walk-in pantry and make room for a table in the middle of the kitchen instead of in a separate dining room, I would truly have a farmhouse kitchen. Hmmmm...  

measuring cups and wooden knobs

Old metal measuring cups in 1/4, 1/3, 1/2. and 1 cup sizes attached to drawers of graduated depths make perfect kitchen cabinet drawer pulls. 

As do wooden knobs... so old fashioned.

... and cookie cutters.

 

kitchen cabinet door hardware

When I decided to do a kitchen cabinet makeover, I wanted the door and drawer hardware to have a fun twist. Silverware hooks seemed to fit the criteria.

 
First I scoured thrift stores, yard sales, and antique stores for old silverware. Spoons and forks were readily available but butter knives... not so much, although I have a few. We found the handles on regular knives too think to bend.

 

Here's how to bend the silverware. We took a short-handled sledge hammer and pounded flat the part of the spoon or fork that enters your mouth... the part that the food sets on. Next, we flipped the piece of silverware over and whacked that side to further flatten it. It isn't necessarty to use a rubber sledge hammer to whack it, but I imagine you could. To get the curve that forms the hook, we manually bent it around a piece of pipe. If it is too stubborn to bend, you can help it along with a hammer. Finally, we drilled a hole where the screw will go. Notice, in the photo of the hooks attached to the cupboard doors, that the bottoms of the hooks are at the same level but the screw holes are not. If you prefer that the holes and the bottoms of the hooks both match up, mark the holes with a pencil after positioning them on your doors to determine where to drill the holes. We predrilled all of the holes beforehand because we didn't have a particular use for them in mind when we made them. Imperfect is good.

 

  
 
 

kitchen cabinet paint and drawer knobs

This old hutch in my dining room was the inspiration for my kitchen cabinets redo. I wanted a farmhouse kitchen cupboard white color, so I took a drawer into Sherwin Williams Paints for a computerized match. 

In addition, I wanted to reproduce the look of the hutch's drawers, so I found some wooden knobs at Menards that came two in a package with screws. Now here is where it gets fun... Look at what Dick came up with to use as a paint drying rack... a garden rake that was missing the handle.  So ingenious.