What to blog about

This week I've been amazed at just how much Avari has grown up in the three days i was away from her this weekend. She has started singing to herself, and she even can finish the sentences in her favourite book by memory (that floored me before our nap today). I know that very soon she's going to be a real little girl instead of a toddler and I haven't decided how that makes me feel yet. I've decided to start living life at her pace - I tend to be a really hustle bustle person by nature, and I like to run from one thing to another, and I think that was frustrating her. I wasn't letting her stop to smell the roses (literally) and let her enjoy and explore her environment.

As many of you know, I have decided that I would like to homeschool Avari, and I think that the teaching can start now. Not teaching in the school sense, but teaching in the sense of letting her learn to take in the environment around her. Teaching her good life habits in her food, in nature. I want her to know that as important as academics are, there is a whole world of knowledge that may be even a little bit more important that is forgotten in school. I want her to grow up grounded and connected to nature and I want her to know how to have fun! Of course, any help in doing this is greatly appreciated, because everything that I think is important for her to learn, are things that I need to learn myself (any good book recommendations anyone?). I think that by watching my little girl live her life, she's going to teach me the best way to live mine.

Karen posted some beautiful pictures of Avari on her blog that she took for Avari's birthday - it's a few posts back. http://mckinnonphoto.squarespace.com

Reading...

The library bug has officially bit me. I was very skeptical last week, and I'll admit that I tend to stop and pick from the new books bin (there are some really fabulous new books out there), but I am officially enveloped my life in books! I used to be a book a day super reader, but since having Avari, they just fell by the wayside. I would try and read, but I would forget what I read the day before, and couldn't keep the stories straight. Now that we're finally getting 5+ hours of consecutive sleep, my brain is starting to heal and I'm getting full enjoyment again.

On my hairdressing chair at home I now have a pile of 12 books, plus the 4 or 5 that I'm concurrently reading for my La Leche League training. So now I have to admit that I've become an iRead facebook stalker, so now I have a very hefty list built up of books I HAVE to read. Books about herbs, and farming, and making money so that you can farm... I'm very excited to be out of the "fluff book" phase!

I just worked my way through the Automatic Millionaire and although we have started using those principles on our own last month, there's a few more that we can adopt, and now I'm feeling a little guilty about my ever growing yarn stash, so I either need to start making use of that ASAP for our winter gear/Christmas gifts, or start parting with it skein by skein. I'm also reading I Love Dirt in the hopes of helping me learn to love the outdoors. (Not that I don't love outdoor activities, I've just never done them as a family event). Next up is The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears, since Avari is now 2, and although I'm pretty confident that we are deciding against vaccinating, I want to make sure that there aren't a couple that we're just going to delay. I also have The Happy Hooker (crocheting) to help get me in to some easy projects for Christmas.

I know it's still 5.5 months away, but when you're a 12 project girl like myself, you have to get started early in order to get finished!

So, check out my facebook iRead, stalk it and find some great summer reads for yourself!

Weekend of work- or is it,...

I can't even begin to explain how much I love my job! I get to learn a ton, go to great weddings, eat awesome food, have sleep overs at Karen's house and have a little bit of me time. I think it's actually very therapeutic. I'm pretty exhausted from the day, and I REALLY looking forward to getting some undisturbed sleep in past 4:30 AM sleep.

This morning with Avari was pretty great. We had 2 hours to kill during Kevin's meeting, so we did downtown Courtenay at her pace. I think that I'm usually in such a rush to get places, that I forget how much fun it is for her to explore- and it's really great for me to slow down and enjoy all of the incredible things she is doing lately. Today, she actually understood that I was going to be away working. She wasn't sad, but she knows that i'm going to Karrot's house for 2 days. (Karrot is what she named her dolly after Karen.)

Here are a couple of pictures that I took from today, because I know I'm really going to miss her tomorrow!

I'm kind of on a super blown out high contrast kick right now...

Forgot to add...

The whole point of showing off my garden was to share the awesome website I found about gardening with children!

http://www.kidsgardening.com

Avari has taken to it as well as a just 2 year old would. She knows that she can pick the chives to eat, and the nasturtiums as well. I was really getting in to this site for ways to involve her for next year!

Gardening Update

I'm starting to feel more positive about my first gardening experience! I was a little frustrated last month because my zucchini, squash, corn, pumpkins and cukes were all disappearing at a rapid pace. Now that July has come about, things are flourishing!

We harvested, lettuce, peas, and some fava beans for tonight. I got some collards from the community garden yesterday and they are really tasty in salad (just soak quite a bit ahead of time to soften the prickles). Everything seems to be growing and Astrid found some information about succession planting which has me plotting about what I can start this week in the green house to have for fall.

Here are some pictures of what the garden looks like now- I'm pretty proud to compare them to the May and June photos.

Our fig tree is now a tree (not a stick)



Lettuce, garlic, kale

Romano pole beans
Celery and Broccoli

Romano Beans

Ive Been A-Sewing!

So, I decided to stop being afraid of my sewing machine and try and learn how to use it! I started browsing amazon, and came across my own personal sewing bible.

Bend-the-Rules Sewing: The Essential Guide to a Whole New Way to Sew

the motto is no pins and no patterns - ummmm..... I'm in love!!!

So, after browsing the chapters a few nights ago and armed with a great tutorial, I started sewing.... and sewing...

and here's what I came up with (please excuse the photos, my camera is in the shop)

These started out as an old pair of Kevin's corduroys and are in the process of being transformed into a pair of experimental orveralls. They are still lacking the overall bit, I'm trying to gather inspiration for something fun for that! The pockets are recycled and are actual pockets.

These are a pair of gauchos made from a scrap piece of upholstery fabric. (I did use a pattern for inspiration). I'm going to put 4 large buttons on them, add a clasp at the back and put a black cuff on the legs

Here's Avari testing out the size while having a snack- note my abandoned crochet project in the background and the trail of yarn (I did finish a good portion of it this evening). i'm hoping to make a hat out of the left-over fabric

Here is my first shirt!!! I'm really proud of this because it's from scratch- no pattern, I just used a shirt of Avari's for the size and made it a bit bigger. The shape looks funny because it's hanging on the back of the couch. It really does drape nicely!

So that is my week! If you've made it this far, then you'll get a sneak peek at my new secret project! I've only half finished coding it, and it still has a long way to go, but you can start posting your great finds and crafts - http://www.fromhandtoheart.com

Are you really in to yarn?

http://www.woolgirl.com/

Just something to tide you over, while I'm working on retrieving the password for my top secret project...