Author: Patchwork Reality

Great Summer Read for the Whole Family

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Raiven received this book for her 7th birthday.  We just finished reading “Callie Vee”,the night before school let out for the summer.  However, this would be a terrific summer read out loud book for the whole family. And perhaps inspire some to get their own “notebooks”.

Summary of the book : Calpurnia Virginia Tate is eleven years old in 1899 when she wonders why the yellow grasshoppers in her Texas backyard are so much bigger than the green ones.With a little help from her notoriously cantankerous grandfather, an avid naturalist, she figures out that the green grasshoppers are easier to see against the yellow grass, so they are eaten before they can get any larger. As Callie explores the natural world around her, she develops a close relationship with her grandfather, navigates the dangers of living with six brothers, and comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century.

Each chapter in this book has an except for Darwin’s Evolution of Species book, the vocabulary in this book is phenomenal, it has some words that even I had to look up and I feel my vocab is adequate.  My son who is 8 and daughter who is 7, listened intently every night to the chapter we would read.  Even the 1 and 3-year-old listened some nights.

This book really brings to light how far women have come in earning rights and respect in many male predominant fields.  Callie Vee wants to be a scientist and go to the University, her mother wants her to be a domesticated women, typical of this time.  Callie has 6 brothers, so she feels the pressure of her mothers desire.

Her Grandfather is an open-minded, mad scientist of sorts, the relationship that builds between them is empowering and inspiring.

Our family fell into many conversations at the dinner table regarding the topics in this book as well as timeline and historical achievements in women’s lib, and how amazing science and nature are.   Read and enjoy, and feel free to add your thoughts on this book.

L Shape Garden Complete

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It took longer than I hoped to post about our completed L-Shape garden, that I originally posted about here , we completed the garden and have it planted, it was actually a fairly quick project.  Here is the before picture again:

We decided to move all of the garden but not the little square strawberry patch that you see on the right side of the picture.  I did not want to risk losing a strawberry crop this year, so we will move them in the fall.

Here is what is in the space that WAS the garden:

I just love this new space, I can see the kids in the backyard, on the trampoline, and in the sand box. The limestone rocks we retrieved from an empty excavated area in our development.  The tree was the largest investment..about $147, we transplanted some purple coneflowers from another flower bed, I had no idea how much these flowers multiplied.  The lilacs on each end we purchased for $19.99 a piece they will be
white.  I can’t wait until next spring to cut some blooms and bring them in the house….mmmm lilacs smell the best!

Here is the new L-Shpae garden that we originally posted about here:

We have romaine lettuce, onions (red and white), cucumbers, peas, and sweet potatoes in a bucket. WE also moved the compost bin to the corner of the garden, we had it on the side of the house but it was not getting enough sun to “cook” properly.  Plus now we can just spread the ready compost into the garden.

So glad we decided not to move the strawberries, I can’t wait untill all these ripen!!

One day…not including normal household chores…

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breakfast, coffee, school, flowers, doughnuts, Dr. appointment, sports store, grocery store, home, lunch, stories, shower, school, ice cream, home, snack, baseball game, baseball game, dinner, baths, stories, download pictures, back to bed, ……glass of wine!!

It was the last day of school and really quite a perfect day cool and perfect weather to watch the kids play ball in a hoodie and jeans.  No pictures, just a sampling of a day in the life….

Easy, Beautiful, Inexpensive Teacher Gift

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In the words of a dear teacher friend, “please no more coffee mugs…they are great….I love coffee…not that much”. So I asked her what she would really want from her  students as a thank you.

Gift cards to places like Barnes and Noble, this way she can buy books that she can add to her classroom. Also teachers like to read adult non-curriculum books during their break.

Gift cards, to places like Panera or other little shops so she can pick out a fun treat during the summer. Pick one out to a fun boutique in your town, does not have to be much even $10.00 is a treat.

Movie passes so she can see a movie during the summer.

A bottle of wine, or other spirit, perhaps a parent should bring this in, yes teachers like to relax a bit too.

A hanging plant or potted plant that she can put outside to bloom all summer, or get really crafty and put together a small container herb garden.

So here is what we did, we went to Savers’….of course, to buy a vase. There is almost a whole aisle full of flower vases that are donated, the budget 99cents. Whatever one they wanted.

Next stop, Trader Joes’, LOVE this place and their flowers are amazing. $7.99 for each bouquet.

We cleaned the sticker off the bottom of the vase, the kids all trimmed the flowers to fit their vases:

I helped Tanna with her cards…she hepled cut them out;

Solomon went out to the yard and got some Hosta flowers to fill his vase in a bit:

Then they made their own cards, this is truly the sweetest part. I think flowers brighten everyone’s day, I know they will be enjoyed for a bit, and not left on a shelf, and totally not included the paper we had here for the cards, 99 cents for the vase $7.99 for flowers plus a little for the taxman = $9.70….handmade card = priceless…of course.

Flower Power Ottoman

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I zoned in on this ottoman and my pulse starting racing with excitement, as I got closer I just  prayed that no one else had eyes for my prize.  I was even more in love when I saw the flower pattern on the top of this Daisy’s are my favorite flower.  So I hefted this bad boy/girl? into my cart at Savers and it was mine…victory.  Price: $24.99 but I redeemed a 20% coupon I earned form one of our many donations so $20.00 and I was a happy girl!

I think this is one of those pieces that is old and kind of a vintage cool, but can be incorporated in a mod way as well.   I have had a bit of an issue deciding exactly where to put it, since we do not have an club chairs.  Since it is on wheels it just moves around to whever people want to put their feet up.

And then I went to IKEA………

Before:

Wheels:

I went into the seconds/bargain area and I found these for $5.00 50% the regular price and all the parts were there, I thought they were like a wall hook.   I could have mounted these onto the inside of some garage lockers we are working on, but then I got the brilliant idea to update the ottoman.

Helpers:

TA-DA!

Not sure why that last photo seems blurry..

Total cost for this was $25.00!!!  Not a bad price for a sweet upcycled flower power ottoman man (in my best chong voice), I will add more photos when I decide on the perfect at the moment home for it.

Rainbow Birthday Party

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Our oldest daughter just turned 7, this is always a very busy time for us, all the kids schools are having music programs, and family picnics, it is a week before the girls dance recital and soccer practice is 2 nights a week with games in Saturday mornings.

I just did not have it in me this year to have a big birthday party at our house like we typically do.  So we decided to have her party at a local nature canter and a tour of the on site cave would be included.  We are all major nature aficianados as well as avid learners so this sounded perfect.

Right on cue a Parents magazine showed up in our mailbox, I am not sure why we get this, no complaints, jsut one of the wonderfully curious thigs.  So she deicdes this is the cake for her:

So also in this article they have little water bottles with skittles candy sorted by colored and layered as treats for the friends that come to the party.  This seems so easy, I delegate the Cake to Jon becuase he is really the domestic god of our lives and I take on the “easy” skittles job.

14!!! Bags of skittles later I had finally filled 20 tiny bottles with a rainbow of sugary goodness, maybe the cake was the easier job…or maybe it is the worker.

We set teh table with multiple colors of paperplates, cups, napkins and forks after we got back from the cave tour so I do nto have a picture of teh complete table but we used the bottles as a centerpiece and the cake was a huge success!

Everyone got to take one home, these were not the easy project I tougth they would be, but all the kids were thrilled to get them!

Jon’s cake….uuuuummmmazing!!!

Happy 7th Birthday Miss Raiven!!!

A new L shaped garden

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I posted a little while ago that we have a city garden plot.  Our hope is that we can still grown and enjoy our  own vegetables and maybe reclaim some of our small yard to give our 4 kids and large dog a bit  more space to stretch out in.  Our last frost was last week, and today it is 80+ with major humidity! WElcome summer, with that we have begun the project of moving our existing garden space which was somewhat of a back row on the property to a corner L shape…I think we are going to end up with more actual garden pace this way.

Here is the garden space as it was…

In the corner of the L I am going to move our compost bin that we now have on the west side of the house next to the A/C unit, it does not get enough sun to get “hot” so it is really just more of an organic matter holder, not what I had in mind.  I am going to put a little pea gravel walkway up to it, this will also give us a way to weed and work with the plants on each side.

Where are garden was, we are going to plant a Dwarf Albert Colorado Spruce tree, it will get to be 15-18 feet high and 12-15 feet wide.  On each side of the pine we are going to put a white lilac plant.  This will provide a bit of a natural privacy fence you can see is needed.

We framed it in old railroad ties, these are $6.99 for 8 feet at our local do-it-all store note that none of these are uniform or even so we had to make each space unique and level to the board and land.  These are also VERY heavy!!

Here is where we are so far.  It proceeded to rain so we gathered all our tools and quickly got inside.

You can see the finished garden here.

Corner Redo…DIY Fireplace

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When we put a wall up along an alcove area in our basement, to make an actual office space in our garganteuos basement living room we left rough ins for a fireplace in the corner.  Our house is a split level home that we built just over 4 years ago and I was honestly surprised at how it can be a little chilly in the winter downstairs.  I guess I thought since it was so new and efficient this would not be the case, but when part of your house in the dirt, I guess this is bound to happen.

So here is a snippet of the star of our fireplace DIY…the plan is to have stone up to the ceiling with a wooden mantle, inspired somewhat by this photo (hopefully a little less cabin-y):

We are slowly adding more details and characteristic to our house, although we built it with some extra touches that we feel added more character than a standard build we have found we are still missing that “us” feel, I am hoping this fireplace will give the basement some warmth and character.

First step….get a permit to complete this project!!  I was fanatical about this, especially since this will be a gas fireplace, I do not want this to be done improperly and jeopardize anything or anyone, plus if we decide to sell and there are no permits on record we could have to pay to have it all redone, don’t skip this step, it is very important.

Second once we knew what was code for the fireplace we bought we went ahead and framed out the spot in 2 X 4’s.  Jon made the openings in the wall and ceiling  and then we called for a gas line hook-up and inspection this line.  The gas line was the only part of this project that we hired out.  again we had no intention of taking any chances when it came to safety.  The total cost was $164.00 not to bad for safety!

Midway update here

Thrifty Thursday

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 I have to say I took a bit of a break from my Goodwill, I shopped it a few weeks in a row on Thursday since all kids toys and clothing and 1/2 price, but it seemed to me that I was sifting through quite a bit of the same ole items. I went back today and found that a few weeks break really gave the store a chance at redemption.  I got quite a bit of great items.  I am also really loving the Target items that are new without the retail tags attached, these are great for my eBay store.

I am really struggling with finding a pair of rain boots in Raiven’s size that are used, there are none, not even really beat up ones, which I would probably pass, but I mean none. 

Here are some of my great finds from today and the amazingly reasonable prices I paid:

This 3 piece set is perfect for R and it was $2.50!!!  I am sure it was never worn and a rashguard set for this price is unheard of.

Got this for T can you see a polka dot theme for the girls this summer…$1.50!!

I also scored a bunch of summer clothes for the little man, I just need to persuade him to try them on:

We also dabble in couponing…amazing Kellogg’s deal!

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I always feel like the cook who has a spoon in every single pot….I really just am inspired by so many people and ideas which combined with my love for learning and challenging myself, I set out to mater couponing.  I have to say it is very exciting, but immensely time consuming to really get the deals like they are starting to spotlight on television. 

Because it takes so much time, it like many other proverbial spoons got put back in the drawer, a knowledge that I possess but only take out of the drawer on special occasions. 

This week at our Hy-Vee I hit a little jackpot, the spoon went back into the pot.  They had an in store coupon $4.00 off milk when you bought 4 boxes of Kelloggs Rice Kripsies cereal.  This reminded me that I had peelies for free M & M’s candies when you bought 2 boxes of Rice Krispies, these were peelies that I acquired from Target.  Also to sweeten the pot I had $1.00 off fruit with the purchase of 2 boxes of Kelloggs cereals.  I knew I could do a bit better and went to the Kelloggs website to look at the coupons available and sure enough they had $1.00 off 2 boxes of Rice Krispies.

So let’s recap my arrangement before going to the store:

$4.00 off milk WYB 4 boxes Rice Krispies

2- $1.00 off 2 boxes Rice Krispies

2-$1.00 off fruit WYB 2 boxes Kelloggs cereal

2- Free M & M’s WYB 2 Boxes Rice Krispies  up to $2.99

I also had the Rice Krispies coupon from the newspaper Red Plum insert from April 17th.

There were enough coupons for me and my husband to each do a transaction.

Total for all of this………..

$25.80!!!

The bags in the front were $1.00 each and are poppy seeds from teh bulk section, I think we got about 6 pounds for $2.00!! 

The total bonus to this is that these boxes were marked with codes that can be redeemed on the Kelloggs website here.  Each box has one code 4 codes earns you a $5.oo pre paid visa gas card.  I already entered and sent away for my free $10.00 in gas!!!