Summer Vacation Staycation by A & Mommy

Well, since PJ, G, and L are off in the wild blue yonder, we decided to make a SUMMER VACATION GRAB BAG.  Every night we will draw a slip from the bag that tells an activity that we can do.  Today's activity was "Write a blog post on the blog," so here we are.  

When Mommy asked me what we should write about, I said, "Camp!"  I am going to camp this Sunday.  I am so excited, and it is SOOOO hard to be patient.  When we asked Daddy, he said, "We should write about which type of motorcycle is the best."  We just laughed.  Mom wanted to write about our county fair entries and how she has been spending hours online trying to find good curriculums for her third and fourth grade class this fall.  We decided to write about our summer staycation.  

Today, Mommy and I picked beans from the garden and talked about if Mom should use her hardly-grown beets or hardly-grown carrots for the county fair division, "Smallest Vegetable in Show."

 Mom's also going to enter some of her AMAZING strawberry-rhubarb jam and her sauerkraut (I personally think sauerkraut is gross).

I made a doll crazy quilt for the county fair.  Umm...I made a lot of other entries, BUT, I decided not to take a picture of them.

Mom and I made cinnamon-raisin-oatmeal bread today. It's STUPENDOUS!  In the first picture, I was saying through my teeth, "This bread is getting really hot on my hands!"  Then I started to cut with an electric knife that I personally think sounds like a chainsaw!

That's all for now! -the Youngest Child and her mom

Praise For Homemakers

Homemakers, you really are valuable.  I told my husband on our anniversary that some people say, "My husband makes the money, and I spend it," but I don't like to spend our money, especially on frivolous things.  I want to use it to help our family and to live.  He said he would say to people, "I make the money, and she saves it."  That was a very honoring thing for Ethan to say to me.  I really do value homemaking and the role it has served our family over the years.  I honor my mother for all she did to make a home for us growing up, too.

A few weeks ago, I canned tomato sauce from our garden tomatoes.  That month's work also produced some yummy canned chokecherry jelly and grape jelly.  My Kerr Home Canning Book published in 1948 and sold for 10 cents came in handy! My grandma gave this book to me from her collection of cookbooks.  Ruth Kerr, president of the Kerr Glass Manufacturing Corporation wrote these words in her amazing introduction that I would submit for your contemplation today:

OURS IS A GREAT HERITAGE, YOURS AND MINE… For we stand first in line as our country's greatest single asset---the American Homemaker.  Again we gladly shoulder the responsibilities of our heritage, for this year we are being asked to be not only Homemakers, we are being asked to join the great forces of our Government in its program of world nutrition.  As American Homemakers we have been invited to represent America in this urgent world crisis, but our conference table will be in the kitchens of our homes, where each gleaming jar of canned fruit and vegetables is our contribution to our country's Blueprint for World Security.

I spent several hours today mending clothes that have piled up in a box over the past four months.  I hate throwing away perfectly good clothes when they just need a little needle and thread work to make them useful again.  My grandma and my mom taught me that by example.  A few years ago, a Swedish friend who worked with college students told me that one of the students wanted to throw away an expensive sweater because the button fell off.  She looked at the young lady, handed her a needle and thread, and told her to learn to sew on a button.  I hope that young people in this generation will learn the value of homemaking and of doing things for yourself for the sake of your family and your country.

Sampler From Granny

The little girls enjoying what has been completed so far on Granny's Quilt.

Some of the treasures that I inherited from my grandmother after her recent death were fifteen unfinished quilt squares.  These squares were designed to be a part of a quilt sampler intended for Ethan and me.  She created them during a time when she was experiencing intense pain after receiving treatment for breast cancer.  I believe that as a result of her pain and all the medications, some of the squares were a bit skewed.

I tried to add borders to some so that they would all have the same dimensions.  Next I had to find a way to put them together.  My sister-in-law, Sharon, was here a couple of weeks ago, so she gave me some advice on that.  She is definitely a more experienced quilter than I am.  I am in the process of putting it all together right now. I added some borders and squares of my own at the top and bottom.  My favorite squares that Grandma made so far are the house square, the three-dimensional blocks, and the spools of thread.  The next step will be to buy batting, made a fabric back, and begin to quilt it.  It should be an interesting experience, and I hope will honor my grandma and all of her hard work.

Then on to the knitted sweater that Grandma started during the last year of her life here on earth!  That will be a challenge, too.  Any advice from knitters out there on how to complete it would be very appreciated!