Sometimes I Say Yes

I'm a no Mom. Or at least I feel that way. But when Stella asked if she could have a tea party, I said yes. I surprised myself with my answer.

Eli came across the scene and asked for his own mug of tea before the girls got started. It's shocking to me, looking at these pictures and realizing how grown up he is getting.

Giveaway

Meryl over at My Bit of Earth is doing a giveaway of The Tiny Farm Company products. She has also featured a short interview with me in which I tend to ramble. Please click on over and enter for your chance to win!

The Tiny Farm Company on My Bit of Earth

New Products & A Giveaway

 

We crafted a few new soaps a while back and when they were first posted to Instagram, one of them sold out on our website almost immediately. We quickly made more batches and those are finally ready for sale. I’m proud to introduce our two newest bars…

Sweet Orange Patchouli is our first exfoliating bar. It contains dried orange peel to scrub away your worries and any rough skin. A warm woodsy and slightly citrusy scent perfect for Summer that will take you right into Fall. This one is my current favorite.

Eucalyptus Lime is fresh and bright and slightly reminiscent of our other bestseller, Lemongrass. It might make you want a margarita or just a day at the beach. That can’t be helped. Sorry.

We’ve also introduced some new packaging. Our coconut oil lip balm that used to be packed into plastic tubes is now poured into reusable little tins. We can’t help but think it’s a bit more eco-friendly and super cute. In fact, we are giving away a tin of lip balm (Peppermint flavor) and a bar of our bestselling Lemongrass Coconut Oil Soap. Just follow @thetinyfarmco on Instagram, repost the photo, tag us and add the hashtag #coconutoillove. Easy!

In the meantime, if you can’t wait to win, head on over to our site. Remember we are including a free gift on any order over $25.

Pizza & Yarn

There is a bonafide artsy type store in the town over from our little hamlet. It just recently opened up, and the kids and I went on our last playday to get our pottery painting on. I noticed then that they had a small yarn selection. When I went back the next week to pick up our finished creations, their small selection had grown. I tried hard to behave myself and only came away with two new lovely skeins. Oh how I do love yarn! And I loved this article on the health benefits of knitting.

 

 

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For the most part I believe that chores and generally just being active can keep you pretty fit. But, I am also a former distance runner and novice gym rat. I miss how fit I was just three years ago. Our current schedule doesn’t really leave me a lot of time to run 8 miles or lift weights for 45 minutes unless I get up while its still dark, and then the gym is still a 20 minute drive. It’s a lot easier to have a buddy for motivation. A good friend talked me into setting up a gym area in our shop (I had all the stuff already) and she is coming over at 5:30am, three days a week to workout with me.

After my 30 days of being sober, I felt like I needed another challenge. Because I’m crazy and I feel the need to torture myself with some kind of deprivation. All joking aside, its not really deprivation. Just choosing to abstain from certain things that aren’t really that good for me. This month will be grain free, beer free, raw dairy only, and no eating after dinner. Notice I said beer free. Not alcohol free. I’m doing quite well with my moderation after seeing with clear eyes the true effects booze has on me. Today is the first day, because yesterday I went totally nuts and ate some nachos. I love nachos. Last week, Stella and I made the best gluten free pizza I have ever had. I won’t be indulging in anything like that during my 30 days, but it was so so good. Here is the recipe for the crust if you care to give it a try. FYI: I didn’t have xanthan gum to make the gf flour mix so instead subbed BRM GF Biscuit and Baking Mix and it was awesome.

 

Do you ever limit yourself from certain things for set amounts of time? If so, what?

Winding Down

I had lofty goals for our three ’week break from school. A stack of books, several knitting projects, lots of cleaning and reorganizing (especially of the schoolroom), and some downtime woven in. I made it through two and a half books, two hats, a scarf, and a dishcloth. I’m still cleaning and reorganizing but as we all know, that is a never-ending process.

I had paused in my reading of Nurturing the Soul of Your Family because I knew it was going to require my full attention and lots of journaling to make sense of the ideas in it. Christmas was not the time for that! I actually started over at the beginning with a brand new blank journal in hand (don’t you love new journals!) and am really enjoying it this time around. It’s one of those one chapter at a time books that you really have to sit and mull over before moving on. Simple Abundance is an amazing daily reader that I gifted to my soul sistah last year when I felt she really needed it. She loved it so much that she got her own copy for the New Year and gifted mine back to me. I’m so glad she did. It is the perfect companion to Nurturing the Soul of Your Family.

Last night I cast on for a Hitchhiker Shawl in this gorgeous blackish grayish yarn. I had it wound at the store and now I cannot find the tag. I wish I knew what this yarn was because it is lovely! This is only my second time following a pattern and its definitely the most difficult project I have attempted. But so far its going smoothly after starting over like nine times. I anticipate this one taking me at least a few weeks to complete.

As I sit here in my new little office area (pictures later), typing this up, it is some kind of nasty outside. The sky has been spitting ice since early early morning. The roads are slick, the temperature is hovering right around freezing, which is an improvement from the 12 degree temp that greeted us yesterday morning. We are keeping the woodstove roaring and the wool underthings on. I have to say that my absolute favorite Christmas gift was a pair of SmartWool leggings. I’m living in these things!
(Pattern found on Ravelry. You can find me on Ravelry here!)

Yarning along with Ginny.

Assigned Reading

Starting tomorrow we are taking a three week Winter break from school. Tomorrow is a surprise trip with Grandma and once we return on Saturday it will be all fun and games. Every present is wrapped, most of the stockings are hung, the tree is totally trimmed. The days leading up to Christmas will be all about baking and relaxing and just enjoying each others company.

The days following Christmas, well who knows what kind of messes the children will get into. But me? I have some reading to catch up on. There is no doubt in my mind I can devour this stack in those three glorious weeks. Maybe a bit of Winter knitting thrown in for good measure? Those top two are my journals. Can one ever have enough journals? I'm still working on reading Nurturing the Soul of Your Family and it requires taking notes and journaling exercises. It's proving to be a more difficult read emotionally than I thought.

Earth Child by Sheehan & Waidner - This was gifted to me last year by my best gal pal and I absolutely love it. It will be our main source for Science projects this Spring and Summer and I want to get a head start by marking some stuff and maybe finding a few easy things to do with the small homeschool group I'm working on starting.

nom nom paleo FOOD FOR HUMANS by Michelle Tam & Henry Fong - I've read nom nom's blog for a long time and was so excited by her first cookbook. I preordered it in the Fall and just received it. I'm planning a full on Paleo/Primal detox starting January 1 so this will come in handy.

Magical Child by Joseph Chilton Pearce - loaned to me, looks like a very good read.

Nurturing the Soul of Your Family by Renee Peterson Trudeau - I've been reading on this one and am really enjoying it despite the fact that it is making me take a good hard look at myself and I don't necessarily like what I see.

Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv - I have wanted to read this for a while now and it was on my friend's bookshelf so I nabbed it!

Even Cowgirls Get The Blues by Tom Robbins - This will be a fun and raunchy re-read for me. It's been quite a while since I read it but I figured I would need a bit of mindless entertainment in my stack.

Randomness

The other day I stumbled across Penelope Trunk.

Then I fell down an Internet rabbit hole for a few days.

Fascinating. And not one bit surprising she has Asperger's.

I've also been knitting. A lot.
I'm head over heels crazy about Wool And The Gang.

And running. A little. With my darling husband.

I also visited an iridologist and started an herb regimen.

I miss yoga. I was practicing regularly then all of the sudden I just quit. It makes me really happy so I should be doing it, right?

And yay! My favorite combination of holidays is coming up next week. Thanksgiving/My Birthday! It's a fun fun week.


Have I mentioned lately how much I love homeschooling? I'm going to morph into one of those people that believes it is the best and only way. But I already do that with everything I am into so its not really a big surprise.

I read this darling darling story to my 7 & 8 year old Literature class at our homeschool co-op this past Monday. As a project to accompany the book, I gave them each a small ball of yarn and taught them to finger knit. I was amazed and delighted how quickly and easily they picked it up and how much most of them enjoyed it. The boys especially!

One of those super amazing things about homeschooling is the complete and total freedom it affords you. Can you imagine not having your day revolve around school hours? Just for fun we spent Monday evening at a friends cabin in the middle of Shady. The next morning we took a wee stroll in our pajamas before loading ourselves and the dogs up and heading home to start school. Still in our pajamas. I snapped these as we were appreciating the beauty of the early morning.

 

News To Me

    One of my most favorite things is discovering something new about myself. This little bit of previously unknown personal trivia is like an unexpected present. It can be something simple: liking a food you were sure you wouldn't. Or it can be much bigger and deeper. Something about your personality you were unaware of.

I read 23 Signs You're Secretly An Introvert on Huffington Post a few days ago and sat there nodding my head nearly the whole way through. I'm sure I looked like one of those bobbing dogs on a dashboard. It honestly blew my mind. Now I am not one to normally put a lot of stock in those articles that have SIGNS YOU'RE XXX in the title, but this one hit the mark. I have always, and I mean always thought of myself as an extrovert. If you were to ask me, that is how I would describe my personality.

I casually mentioned this to Warren and he laughed. Laughed because I had always identified myself as an extrovert. According to him I am a textbook introvert. But as he said, "It's not big deal, I am an introvert too."

I spent a good deal of time thinking about this, as it was really and truly having an affect on my perception of myself. Wasn't I always outgoing? Confident and never shy? I have never had a problem meeting people or mingling at a party. I'm downright boisterous at times.

But then there were the 23 signs. Plus a few others I recognized on my own. Like the fact that I prefer to dine in small groups at the time when a restaurant is likely to be the quietest. Or how about that I am always lugging about a book to fill any spare time instead of talking to people.

Some of the signs that brought this realization about were:

I don't do small talk. They called it cumbersome. I find it unnecessary and annoying.

I often feel alone in a crowd. So true. That's why I have the aforementioned book on hand.

Networking feels phony. Totally. Why do I need to connect with people to further myself?

You're intense and prefer deep conversations. Not all the time, but those are my favorite.

You're easily distracted so you need a environment with less stimuli. So true! I need calmness and simplicity to work.

Downtime doesn't feel unproductive. This is true and false for me. When I really and truly need it then I can take it. But everyday laziness I just cannot bear.

Giving a talk in front of 500 people is less stressful than mingling with those people. I did a lot of public speaking in high school and was very good at it. But just talking to people I don't know is weird.

In public places you sit at an end or corner chair instead of the middle. Always always always. I don't want to be surrounded by people!

I shut down after I have been active for too long. I have a expiration time every day. I need to be in my house in the quiet or my brain just fizzles out.

You screen all your calls. Oh yeah. Totally guilty. Not that I don't want to talk. I just have to mentally prepare myself to talk. Give me a half hour and I'll call you back.

You notice details that others don't. I do like to really look at my surroundings.

You have a constant inner monologue. Yeah and I wish I could get it to shut up sometimes.

You alternate between phases or work, solitude, and social activity. I do get in a groove sometimes where I really want to hang out with people but it never lasts very long. Most of the time I would rather be home reading a book.

Example- This evening I took the kids to soccer practice. While Cash practiced and Stella dominated the playground, I took up residence on a grassy piece of Earth with my giant glass of water, iphone, and knitting. I played music softly to focus my mind and knitted on a scarf for Stella. My feet were bare and I wiggled them in the grass as often as I could. There were people here and there that I knew and I would speak to them if they spoke to me, but I am pretty sure every single thing in my setup and body language shouted that I wanted to be left alone. Sometimes I feel bad for being like that, but honestly small talk with acquaintances drains my energy. It leaves me feeling anxious and tired. I'm much happier to say hello or nothing at all and resume whatever I was doing.

So this new bit of knowledge about myself is taking some time to sink in. I'm not really sure what I will do with it in the long run. But for now I'm going to use it as  reason to not be hard on myself for being a homebody and keeping my inner circle very small.

But if you see me knitting barefoot on the ground at soccer practice, feel free to say hi!

I'm Pretty Joyful, But Then Again I Might Have Been Drinking

I realized the other day that I am creeping up on 500 posts on this here little ole' blog. I plan on having a FUN giveaway when that happens so look for it next week.

Random fact: I used to have a good number of readers and commenters until I quit blogging for over 6 months and lost my domain name. Now all those people that followed me in Reader or had my feed emailed have no idea I even started writing and sharing again. That makes me sad.

Yesterday we made the bi-weekly trek to Ft.Smith to drop off the Monsterman. We ate way too much sushi and drank too many beers (shush I stopped at two cause someone's gotta drive this circus home), that's just what we do when we are anywhere with a population over 5,000.  I also wanted to hit up Michael's while I was there and I drug the boys in with me while the husband took Sugarbaby to her very favorite place, Tarj'ay. The fact that these two stores are right next to each other does not seem like a coincidence, eh?

I was trying to keep it short and sweet because I just couldn't imagine my sword fighting, bad mouthing, rough and tumble sons having any interest in a craft store. Dudes....I was wrong. You would have thought they were in Heaven. They wanted everything. They loved everything. I have to give them credit where it is due though. They are quite the little artists.

This is my pantry door:

I added my own piece to it this morning. Just as a reminder to myself and the other lovely people inhabiting this house.

Sharpie and watercolor are two of our favorite mediums.

Snapshots From Yesterday

 

My husband makes the best homebrew and I drank far too much of it yesterday evening.

Crafted this sweetheart ragdoll and listed her in my shop. She is a steal at $25. Won't you give her a home with a darling girl? In trying hard to turn my hobbies into a business I started reading this book. LOVE IT! A great resource for anyone who adores handmade.

Mondays Are Mean

So technically no one was jumping for joy that its Monday. Mondays are blah. Mondays are mean. Mondays are no good days. On Mondays I always need more coffee or chocolate than usual. And even though I hate to admit it, I'm always shorter and snappier with the darlings on Monday mornings.

I have gotten myself into a lovely little routine though. Cleaning and internet timesuck in the morning. Yoga or running and creating in the afternoon. Then I pretty much count my day as being over because once its 3 o'clock the whirlwind begins and all me time runs out the door screaming.

I listed these little clips in my shop today. There will be more like them in the coming days along with a one of a kind Sweetheart Ragdoll. Have I ever mentioned I love ragdolls? Sugarbaby has about a bazillion.

If you have visited the shop you'll have noticed that I have vintage plates for sale. I find them, double check the authenticity of general oldness and awesomeness, attach hanging hardware, and list them. But sometimes I have a hard time parting with ones I am particularly fond of. Like this one. Stamped Holt-Howard 1964. I am so keeping this one.



Randomocity

First lost tooth for my darling middle child. Nevermind that a baseball took it out.

He's even more handsome now.

 Allie thinks she's a person. A very silly person.

Sugarbaby says Allie is her best friend.

A snippet of a whimsical oil painting I have been working on.

Time to start growing things!!! Parsley and dill. Love me some herbs.

What I Am Doing Today

Nothing better than a warm sunny kitchen, Beatles Pandora station blaring, feeling the effects of a painkiller I took for my twisted neck, drinking hot coffee, and working on a oil painting. I shall call it Umbrella Stella. She is a lovely little muse.

Some Birds, Some Beatles, and a Treehouse

In keeping with resolutions we have been working on a healthy endeavor. Only my husband and I

are crazy enough to take on building a substantial treehouse over a creek in January.

 We have help, of course. From the way its going, its going to be a pretty rockin' getaway for the darlings.

Kids need to be outside. We have plenty of outside for them to be in. But their own structure? Above the ground? That just guarantees that I will have plenty of uninterrupted time come summer vacation.

In between helping hold up heavy boards and working on my Paleo eating, I've added a few new items to my shop. Southern Blackbird is shaping right up. You can score the original 3 piece wall art below for only $26. I'm keeping the prices low and reasonable. I like birds, and I think that all the wisdom you ever need can be gleaned from Beatles lyrics.