Clover Lane

At Christmastime my mom arrived at our house bearing many gifts, but the one I loved the most was a small bag filled with a few letters.  One was from my Grandma B, (my mom is the oldest of nine) addressed to her and written on December 21. My grandmother made raising nine children look easy.  I remember her as a kind, but no-nonsense sort of grandmother-I am sure she was the same as a mother.  I soaked up every word.

The paragraph I love the best is this one:

The only thing I can tell you is that it is very difficult to raise a large family.  It is so demanding, you are split so many ways.  I used to be very cross at Christmas, I still am, some days you just had no more to give. The mother takes the full blow of everything that happens.  I know you must get very weary because there is always so much to do.  Someday you will receive lovely little specials like I do and it will all be worth it.  I am so proud of all of you and the years were not wasted.  If I can leave you nothing, I just want you all to know your Dad and I loved everyone of you from the first to the last.

Now I know I have just six, compared to her nine, but I tears came to my eyes when I read the first two sentences.  It is so true.  It is difficult to raise a large family and it demands so much of my time and energy and I do feel split so many ways.  When I feel this one here needs extra attention, then this one here is not getting it.  It goes back and forth and round and round, and I try hard to be everything to everyone.  There is so much joy of course and I wouldn't want my life to look one bit different, but when it comes down to it, it's a whole bunch of work-mentally, emotionally and physically and it never ever lets up.


I hold my Grandma B in such high esteem.  I know she didn't whine about the work, or complain about her "lack of 'me' time".  She didn't consider a work-out and a manicure essential and I can't really see her and my Grandpa making "date nights" a priority.  (And they had a beautiful marriage-more than 60 years.)  I think she made do with much less and ended up with much more-more in the sense of what really matters.  And boy is that refreshing to know.  It's just nice to let go of so much of the pressure from the barrage of "must-do's" we mothers receive.  My grandma was a good friend, and a good neighbor, and a good wife and involved in her church and community, but she was home mostly.  Home, working hard, raising and loving children, making lots of sandwiches, and doing lots of laundry.

One of my 'not-favorite' jobs is grocery shopping.  One early Sunday morning (the best time to go to the grocery store in my opinion-no one is there and I can go alone with Jeff at home with the kids) I set the timer on the stove for 60 minutes and told Patrick and Andrew that I bet I could beat it back before it counted down.  I dashed off-I had my list ready and sped up and down the aisles at lightning speed.  They were so excited when they heard the garage door open, knowing it was me, that I heard them cheer from inside the door. 15 minutes to spare!  When I came in I said, "Let's carry these groceries in and put them away and see if we can beat the timer".  We did it!

A couple of years I go I decided that I was going to start a collection of children's picture books.   I also decided that I was going to be really really picky about what goes into this collection.  Mostly vintage, mostly the ones I remember from my childhood.   I started with the intent of buying one book a month, but sometimes that doesn't happen because I forget, or because I find three I really really want and can't resist and buy them all at once.

I thought maybe I'd share them with you once in awhile.  Those really really good ones-which happen to be the old ones-are hidden in the dark recesses of old libraries, or attics or the old toy cupboard, lost forever, discarded for the shiny new (and often much less stellar in my opinion) picture books.  I usually find these old copies on Amazon, and buy them from a bookstore that sells them used.  I love the "Used" books.  They are sometimes old library versions, worn, with buttery pages or a little scribble here and crayon mark there.  That doesn't bother me at all.

Here's one of my favorite purchases I just made recently.  This is a copy of the book of classic tales that my mom used to read us often, by Watty Piper.

Andrew made these in art class the other day and on a boring day off at home, made some more.  I was so surprised by the end result, after I saw him hard at work.  So simple and pretty.

He agreed to do a little tutorial for me.

You need six square sheets of white paper and a glue stick and scissors, and something to draw a straight line with.  We used some wooden popsicle sticks, but there are these things called rulers that work well also, if you can find one laying around. :)


Corner to corner and then again, fold the square sheet so it looks like this.

Draw lines with a pencil that look like this.  You want to start your line on the open side, not the folded size, and don't draw all the way to the end.


Cut on the lines.


When you unfold the paper it will look like this.


Keep going, flipping over each time, till all the ends of the triangles are glued.

Repeat with five more pieces of paper till you have six more. Glue them all together by one end like this:


Let it snow!

Who wouldn't want to wake up to this every morning?

Even when I don't get much sleep, or have a harried morning with the older kids, (no peanut butter in the jar, missing homework, "you must wear a coat" arguments) this little smiling face turns my day around.  I can feel my whole heart relax and fill up with love.  Forget the little stuff, love is where it's at. Corny, but true.

I haven't really ever made a photo book before, but I had this little idea in my head for awhile and finally had some time to do it.

I made Patrick an ABC book...just simple letters with one of my photos that start with that letter.  It's probably a little late for this age-wise, but it helps him with his sounds and he loves it.  And it helped me get the hang of whipping something like this together.  I am hooked!  (Much easier than my cookbook and so much less time-consuming!)

I chose a soft cover, 8x8 size, and made the cover page in Picasa.  (If interested, you can see my scrapbook tutorials on how to do that.)

I have been making batches of these like a crazy woman.  They are easy and so so so good.  And the best thing is that they don't cost $14 a dozen.  I bet they come in under $1.

This recipe is from AllRecipes and I use my Zojirushi Breadmaker...I love that thing.  The recipe makes about 8 bagels.  Last week I doubled it, and the bread maker handled it fine.

1 cup warm water
3 cups of bread flour
2 TBS white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
3 TBS sugar
1 TSP cornmeal
1 egg white

Toppings if wish:  shredded asiago cheese, poppy seeds, dried onion flakes, rock salt, cinnamon sugar...

1.  I add the first 5 ingredients in the order listed.  Set on Dough Cycle.  When complete, place dough on a lightly floured surface. Shape into 8-10 balls, flatten them, and then poke hole in the middle.  (Make it big, because dough will rise.)

2. Cover bagels with a clean dish towel, and let rise.  Mine take about 30-60 minutes to get rise.  Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil.  Dissolve 3 TBS of sugar in boiling water.


3. Sprinkle an ungreased cookie sheet with cornmeal.  Heat oven to 375.  Transfer bagels to boiling water.  (My pot holds about 4 at a time.)  Boil for 1 minute, turning halfway through.  Remove bagels and place on dish towel to drain.

4. Arrange boiled bagels on baking sheet. Glaze top with egg white.

My kids love asiago cheese bagels, so I will grate some of that and sprinkle on top.  They also love "everything" bagels:  I mix up some poppy seeds, dried onion flakes, and a teeny bit of coarse salt. I will dip the top of the bagel in the egg white, and then dip it in the "everything mixture".  We haven't tried cinnamon sugar yet, but I bet that would be good.

5. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

PS.  There is a little Print Friendly button down below.

I found this today after I ordered a bed to be made.  I am so glad I noticed this little tenderness-a teddy bear gently covered up, tucked in and peeking out.  Sometimes with all the hustle and bustle of the household I know I overlook these things- things like little acts of kindness I don't see, or hear.  Its easy to let the negative stuff get more attention-the job undone, the snippy remark, the unkind criticism, the toothpaste all over the counter.

But I learn this lesson again and again and again-noticing the good stuff gets me SO much farther.

Instead of scolding, praising.
Instead of harping, smiling.
Instead of being agitated, being grateful.
Instead of an angry tone, a gentle word.

It's nice to get back on a routine.  I love January-not the cold weather of course, but the quietness and the coziness in our warm home.  Here are some things that are keeping us busy: