The Wheelbarrow

I love my mom. (duh)


But I'm especially thankful for her sending me this photo. I was complaining on Facebook the other day how homesick I was for Indiana leaves so she stepped out the back door and snapped this to send me. 


At least she wasn't as cruel as to box up fall leaves and actually send them to me. Mom did that to Mountain Man a couple years ago. That sure didn't help his homesickness!


Although I love the leaves I was happy to see the wheelbarrow. This belonged to Grandpa, I don't know how old it is, and I grew up hauling load after load of wood from the barnyard to the house for our wood burning stove. In the summer it wasn't stored away. No, this was the most comfortable lawn chair we had. It reclines at the perfect angle with the handles as feet rests. 


What you see here is actually the second wheelbarrow. When I was growing up the wood was rotting and falling apart and when my younger brother was a teenager he replaced all the wood parts and kept the metal fixtures. It's still great. 


Too bad I can't steal it and haul it back to Kansas with me. 
I could use a really comfortable chair on my front porch. 

Marker Monday - Simple Christmas Gifts for Teachers

I never really looked forward to Christmas when I was a teacher because inevitably Christmas in a school meant candy and cookies in the teacher's lounge and Christmas gifts of candy and cookies from students. I'm all for candy and cookies but sometimes teachers get hit with an overload of sugar!


Over the Thanksgiving weekend, after Yip and Yap and I were sufficiently stuffed with turkey and pie and needed something to keep us busy during Yahoo's naptime, we sat down to work on some teacher Christmas gifts not loaded with sugar. I actually got this idea from Pioneer Woman last Christmas.


A nativity set! We spray painted some sanded scrap 2x4's and then hot glued scraps of fabric, felt, pipe cleaners and ricrac. I think we made 4 or 5 sets and it went much quicker than I anticipated.


Yap also found some ceramic floor tiles left in our garage from the previous owners. For the last couple of weeks he's been making tons of coffee coasters out of them; this is just a little sample of his creations. He covered them with watered down glue and tissue paper. After they dried we added a layer of polyurthene on top and glued felt to the bottom.

I've really enjoyed working on these projects with the boys. First of all it gets them really thinking about giving to others without just buying something off a shelf. Besides these gifts cost us practically nothing to make.

What about you? Are you making any handmade gifts to give this Christmas season?

Wood Smoke...a memory.

I wish I could photograph smells. Through the years I've found various smells to be very nostalgic for me. Someone in our town has a wood burning stove and I can smell the distinct wood smoke outside on these chilly fall mornings.

Our family had a wood burning stove when I was a child. I learned early, especially because I was the oldest, the best way to build a fire.

A tight crumpled pile of newspapers are banked by two stout pieces of wood. Twigs are laid in perpendicular layers over the paper. The layer of ash from previous fires held just a hint of smoke already gone. The touch of the quick flaming match....just one match, no more....and the flame is quickly caught by the paper and the fire grows. The twigs are slower to accept the flame but once they take it on they burn stronger and longer.

The smoke is sucked through the open damper and out the chimney but there's enough of its hot acrid warmth to fill my nose.

Wood is added in increasingly bigger pieces, carefully so as not to smother the tiny flames. Until the iron box of a wood stove is full of roaring hot flames! Shut the door! Close the damper....but not too tight. Smoke that flies up the chimney is good. If the damper is too tight, smoke fills the house like a ghost which results in shrieks.....from Dad.

"Who checked the stove last??? The damper is too tight!" Numerous pairs of feet gallop to the basement....open the damper.....let out the smoke.

At times, I recall, my clothes would be saturated with the aroma of wood smoke. The smell was soothing and comforting; a smell that filled my childhood winters.

It's been fifteen years since my winters have been filled with checking a fire day and night. Ages ago since I had to trudge through the January snow to help load a trailer full of wood and haul it to the house only to unload onto the frozen ground. Splitting wood in the barnyard, while being whipped by the winter wind, is no longer a mandatory weekend chore.

But this morning I stepped outside. My breath hung white in the air. I inhaled the neighbor's wood smoke until it filled me up and I was twelve years old again and slowly, patiently building a wood stove fire.

It's been many years since the jobs of filling and maintaining a wood stove were mine. I'd give almost anything, for just one day, to go back and have all those responsibilities again. What I'd give to have the wood smoke wrap around me like a wool winter scarf.

This post was written as part of SITS November Content is King Challenge.

Thanksgiving Table

Look how hard at work the men in my life are! There they are in the garage slaving away.

Cutting, nailing, sanding...what are they up to?

Okay, only one of them is hard at work. DR runs the power tools while Yip is always standing at the ready to pick up wood. Yap keeps his bum useful holding down that seat!

DR is building me a new dining room table! He always amazes me....he had the whole table and 8 stools built in one day.

And they're great!

Dirt and sawdust looks good on you Yip!

The reason DR is so hard at work is for Thanksgiving. Now, I don't expect a big crowd for Turkey Day but I did invite a few people and our current dining table just wasn't big enough; I'll compare the two later. Our dining room is small so space is at a premium; rather than chairs DR and I decided stools would work well.

Now that the table and stools are done Yahoo and I have the job of sanding and staining. Okay, it's my job alone...

DR tried a couple different stool designs. I'm thinking a dark walnut stain. What do you think?

Even though DR banged this out fast and I really love it, because he made it, it's not anything fancy. This table and chairs was designed for kids in mind. I know my kids will climb, draw, paint and give this table a good workout in the next decade or so. But it's sturdy and affordable. DR only spent about $100 and all the materials!

I love the looks of it all though. Sturdy, a bit rustic and practical...nothing fancy.

My new table is 3 ft. by 5 ft, big enough to seat 8 people. I can't wait to get it finished and in the house!

Even though I only invited a few family members (you know who you are) don't be offended if you didn't get a call from me! Hey, I'll happily feed anyone who shows up on my doorstep on Thanksgiving. So, if you have nowhere to eat turkey swing on by and check out my new table!

Stump