Wordsmith Wednesday: Little House in the Big Woods

This week Owen and I have been reading Little House In the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder). It's one of my favorite books from when I was a little girl, and I am pleased that he is ready to listen to chapter books. (Now that we are in the pooping stage of potty learning, we can spend quite a bit of time reading in one sitting!) We have read about half of it in the last four days, and he has brought it to me to read a couple of times on his own. We are both enjoying Laura's recollection of butchering a hog, smoking vension, storing pumpkins and onions and herbs in the attic, making butter with Ma, watching Pa clean his gun and traps and play the fiddle, making maple syrup, and living in the big woods of Wisconsin. I think it helps Owen to have the occasional illustration (by Garth Williams) since this is his first chapter book. He is surprisingly interested in the black and white pictures and wants to examine them closely and talk about them.
If it's been a while since you've read this one, I'd highly recommend reading it to yourself or a little one in you life.

Minnetonka Moccasins

I recently thought I'd found the solution to my shoe woes. We prefer for Owen to wear soft-soled shoes, but he is getting a bit too big for most of the readily available ones. He also has a rather fat foot, so he needs a wider shoe. When I found that Minnetonka Moccaisins made adaorable, affordable fringed moccasins, I thought we might be set until Owen started picking out his own shoes - and beyond. But, alas, when the first pair arrived, one was wide enough to fit on either of his feet while the other was too narrow to fit on either. When the replacements arrived, we found that the more narrow cut was the correct one. Unfortunately, the shoes were also VERY long. They are the oddest cut I have every seen.
I got a chance to review them this morning (see below). If you're looking for a long narrow shoe for a child, and want soft soles, then this is the shoe for you. I'm still feeling disappointed because they are just too cute. Oh well, off to search again for affordable, soft-soled shoes that come in toddler size 9 and don't cost a fortune.




Product: Minnetonka Childs Fringe Softsole Boot by Minnetonka
Submitted at: Moccasins.com
Review Status: Pending
Long Narrow Shoes by Disappointed Mama from Lancaster, PA on 9/30/2009
Sizing: Feels full size too small
Pros: Well-priced, Cute
Cons: Very narrow, Unusually long, Uncomfortable
Describe Yourself: First Time Parent We were disappointed when the first pair of moccasins came as two very different shoes. One fit my son, but one did not. After getting replacements, the new pair did not fit at all. It was made very narrow and extremely long. They were so narrow, in fact, that we couldn't even get them on my son's feet, and they were a full inch and a half longer than his foot - a tripping issue if he had actually gotten them on. Although they are absolutely adorable shoes, they are the most strangely cut shoes I have ever encountered - how very disappointing.

More Felt Food Tutoials: Carrot and Snow Pea

To make a carrot you will need these pieces - orange wedge, green rectangle with fringe cut on one end, stuffing

Starting at pointy end of carrot, whip stitch on outside of felt with matching thread.Continue sewing toward the top of the carrot, stuffing it as you go.

When you near the top, lay the carrot greens inside and put the last of the stuffing in.After you sew all the way to the top, secure stitches and sew a running stitch through the orange and green layers all the way around the top close to the edge.

Cinch in stitching, and secure thread ends. To make a snow pea you will need a green ellipse and a piece slightly smaller than 1/2 the ellipse.
Fold small piece inside larger one and whip stitch around outside with matching thread.

Done!

Nifty Thrifty

So what have we done to be thrifty in the last week?

• shopped at the central market (Friday)
  
• bargained for stock bones at said market (They used to sell a big ol' box of them for $5. I asked if they had any bulk ones and confirmed that they sold them by the box. The guy said yes but they only had part of a box. I asked again, so it is still buy the bag then. Yes. Then he proceeds to weigh them and charge me $1/lb for them. I say that I thought they were not by the lb., and he shows me the ones in the case and tells me they took out part of the bones (the nicer ones - shank bones) and vacuum packed them and are selling them for $1/lb. So, he wants to sell me a big hunk of frozen-together picked, over bones, and I say no thanks, I used to get twice that much for $5. He goes down from $18 to $12, and I say no thanks again. Finally, he asks how much I will give for these bones, and I tell him $5. He was $5 richer for selling me those picked over bones.)
• used a $3 off a $30 order at the big box grocery store (Monday)
  
• called the insurance company to get another explanation of benefits sent that seemed to have been lost in the mail - Next I can send that off for reimbursement of the amount that was applied to our deductible. (today)
  
• called a company that didn't refund me shipping when they sent me a pair of shoes that were 2 different sizes (Friday)
  
• returned our library books on time (today)
  
• spent part of the morning at the library (today)
  
• checked out more books for Owen - and a video (today)
  
• went to a free petting farm with Owen and Abram (Saturday)
  
• shopped at two front yard farm stands and got red peppers ($0.35 each), honey, apples ($7/half bushel), and some gourds (also $0.35 each) for the table (Saturday)
  
• chopped and froze peppers and dried some of the apples (Saturday)
• found a 100% wool sweater for me at Goodwill for $5 (today)
• turned-off AC/heat and opened/closed windows as needed (all of September)
• made felt food for a birthday present - and some extra sushi for a special surprise (Monday)
• worked on two hand-made baby gifts (ongoing)

Tutorial: Felt Sushi

Here you go, Jessie! I promise these are super-duper easy. Making the tutorial was harder than making the sushi.

I used felted wool sweater scraps. All of these were thrifted for less than $2 each. You will also need matching thread a needle, and sharp scissors.

Here are the pieces you will need for a salmon and avocado roll (adjust filling colors as needed) - nori, rice, salmon, avocado.


I folded my rice and fillings so that they would be a bit thicker.

Place fillings on rice . . .
. . . and roll rice around them once. Overlap white edges about 1/4" and cut off excess rice.


Tack edge of rice in place. (This stitching will not show, so go ahead and use black thread.) Trim filling ends if they stick out of rice too far.Stitch nori to rice roll near seam.
Wrap nori around rice roll. Overlap nori about 1/4" and trim excess. Sew second end of nori to the roll. Trim bottom/top of nori to make it look even and nice.
Sew directly through the roll a few times to make sure all the layers stay together. Tie off ends, and enjoy!
Here are the pieces you will need for tuna nigiri - rice, tuna, nori (change topping as desired).
Fold rice to make it a bit thicker. (I folded it into thirds.)
Tack nori strip to center bottom of rice, and sew through all layers a few times.
Wrap nori strip around rice and tuna. Sew closed, and trim excess nori. Enjoy!

Wordsmith Wednesday: Ruby In Her Own Time

I bought this book long before Owen was even thought of. When I was working on my MA in teaching, I took a completely useless reading pedagogy class. The only good thing I got out of is was reading and reviewing 5 children's books a week. This is one of the gems I found.

Ruby In Her Own Time (written by Jonathan Emmett and illustrated Rebecca Harry) tells the story of a duck family with five ducklings. Ruby is the runt and starts life a bit slow. They name her Ruby because she is small and precious (and because all the other kids have R names). Father duck asks again and again, "Will she ever. . ." hatch, eat, swim, etc. And she does. She does eat - "in her own time." She does swim - "in her own time." When all the brothers and sisters fly, she does too, but she goes farther and wider. Mama duck wonders if she will ever return, and she does in her own time with her own family of ducklings.
The writing is nothing out of the ordinary and the pictures are alright, but I really love the message of this book. I think that it important for children to develop in their own time. This is one I love to read over and over to Owen.

You Have Got To Freakin' Be Kidding Me: A Printer Catridge Rant

We are the owners of a Lexmark Z2320 printer. It's the second printer we've purchased in two years. (We got one just before the compacting year and soon after - by complete chance.) These things break way too easily, and of course they can't be repaired. But that's not the worst of it.
Tonight while trying to print, the black cartridge stopped working. Notice I didn't say the ink ran out? No, I have a perfectly serviceable ink refill kit that cost about $25 and has seen the reigns of THREE printers! Yes, 3. So, I was able to refill the cartridge with fresh black ink, but it wouldn't print.
Do you want to know why?
Apparently this and other Lexmark cartridges are equipped with chips that allow a certain amount of printing (pages?, passes of the cartridge over the paper?, who knows!) and when the clock strikes midnight, the cartridges turn back into a pumpkins.
This is taking programmed senescence a bit too far.
So you want to buy a piece of junk car for half the price of a good one? You might just be able to get 200,000 miles out of it if you treat it just so. Can you imagine the outrage from car owners if suddenly they found themselves with cars that shut off at 99,999 miles never to run again because the darned things had a chips that only allowed them to run that far?
But, if you buy a Lexmark printer cartridge, no matter how gently you use the thing, you are only allowed a certain mileage.
Here is information on a case brought against cartridge remanufacturers.
Fortunately, you can buy refillable cartidges compatible with Lexmark printers, and the next time I need a new one, I'll be ordering it online rather than buying the brand-name one from the office supply store. What a crock!