Weaving the Tapestry

Our Dexter Heifer

I can't remember why this has become so hard.
Perhaps life has created too many blocked ways for me to return here.
Perhaps my time for this blog has ended here but I can't let it go in my heart.

So many treasured events have been recorded here.
Certainly not all and certainly not for a long time.

But I still remember the children waiting for their birthday post and wanting to see what I would write  this year, and the cherished feast days and family celebrations. The everyday activities that mattered to us and that we had shared them together.
It all started with a desire to share our family life and to have a record of that life for myself and our family.

Gifts of love 

Then  I think it changed, without me even noticing -  I got sucked into the world of comparison and what would make my little world of cyber space more attractive to others and have them visit here.
I do think the world of blogging changed as well, the family type blogs had become a thing of the past and the more slick and fancy, information, how to type blogs became the way of the future and I felt inadequate in comparison. Blogging had changed- it wasn't personal anymore with visits back and forth leaving comments here and there, like a conversation. It was more just read and move on to another blog an,d move on again without that personal exchange, and I had not been able to keep up with those changes and so like my personality I turned inward and stopped enjoying and sharing what was close to my heart.

I still feel joy when I look at this blog and the memories shared, but I can't seem to think of anything to write. The joy and the desire are still here but the content seems to be lacking.

So in a bid to reopen dialogue  I would like to share some recent events that have happened in our lives.
Boring and everyday events but this is what make up the fabric of our live.  This is what weaves our family tapestry and it brings joy and contentment. It is what I cherish and that is what my blog was all about CHERISHED HEARTS AT HOME!!

Lenten Preparation

Its time for me to take a deep breath and remember my blog title and live it :)
So here a few of  our recent happenings in pictures-

Our first Jersey Cow- a long awaited dream come true

Making my soap for our Home business

Saxon has entered Vianney College as a Seminarian

Crazy brothers

St Patrick's display this year

Grand dumpling and one of the new puppies

More Grand Dumplings come for a visit at "Mama;s House"

First reader finished with real progress

Blessings to you and your homes, 

Tidying things Up!!!

Tidying up is something we tend to do a lot of in our home.
You know there is nearly always something out of place in a home schooled family who are actually living, learning and creating  in the home 24/7.

I like to look around and see our home the way I envisage it in my mind.
A place of beauty, a place of comfort, a place of sanctuary - a place that reflects the members of our family and our loves, interests and values.

Anyone who really knows me knows I love pretty, pink and feminine. But by the same token I like things to be reasonably tidy and to have a distinct stamp that scream out oh yes that is just how I imagined Gae would do it.

So naturally my blog space here has to reflect this for me. After all it is my blog and I like to look at it too.

In line with that  I have been tidying up my side bars a bit and trying to add a drop down bar (again) which I had attempted quite a while ago but gave up as I could not get it to work.

So for some reason I wanted to have one again and was becoming very frustrated with the fact I could not get it to work.
With the help of a friend and the knowledge that I could not add drop downs in my watermark template, (I now have the simple template version,)  I now have those elusive drop downs and have eliminated the old 'labels' down the side bar.

I have also added lots of blogs I like to visit and be inspired by across the top pages section (that page still is 'under construction' so to speak) also I updated the page about our family.
I took off some side bar sections and I am sure my blog  is a lot quicker to load now too :)

My final tidying up is I am creating a page that has all my liturgical and seasonal posts together for each month and this is taking me a little while to get finished as it is quite detailed. But I am hoping to make progress on that very soon.

So with all this tidying up please do have a look at the sections and tell me what you think of it all.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

The Plans of Mice and Men (Women too )!!!

As the title suggests my best laid plans to get back in to this space for the new year clearly have not happened!

I  am sitting here tonight after all are in bed, finally with a little time to myself after a busy few days planning for our Arwen's 6th birthday which we celebrated today. Everything has been cleaned up and children are asleep- finally and now I attempt to create some order here as well :)

January is such a busy month each year for us even though it is meant to be our 'holiday season.
It is this time after we finish the Christmas Season that I tend to plan for our upcoming learning year.
Of course I started to make some new year resolutions (yes before the new year),to help me get started in that area,  well honestly I'm still working on going beyond the notes I scribbled down in my notebook for 1001 things to plan for the year. One of which had been to plan for regular weekly posts again.

However I have found that like most things, once you get out of a rhythm it is hard to get back to the previous structure. So I am just sharing a little bit tonight.
One of the other things I need to accept  is that I can just do a small post and move on to a new topic, instead of feeling the need to do long and detailed posts  and then simple not doing any due to lack of time and energy and high expectations of myself.
Can I just say that writing actual posts is something that you quickly lose the ability to do, as I can attest to having only spent quick visits to IG and FB, and that these only require short and brief responses and not a lot of thought!

My life today is different to even a couple of years ago,
It certainly has many different aspects that I need to adapt to now with grown children away, student children back and forth, older children at home, and those middle and little ones who are still very needful as well.

Thus it means that my priorities have changed.
Hence my life has changed and while I miss lots of the familiarity of the time gone before I am enjoying the challenges that come with this new phase of life.
I just need to manage that time so I can achieve what I feel I am being called to do with those things that need to be done with those I would like to do.
I guess this is really no different to any other season in my life.

So Hello from me to you for the new year!!!

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

It's Ridiculous Really!!

It is ridiculous!!
I can't believe I let it happen.......again!!
The ridiculousness of it started working on me causing me to second guess and worry about the fact that I hadn't done what I said I would.

Perhaps you have never done it but I know I have done it before and I should have see the signs,before it got so embedded in my thinking.
It happens when I am passionate about some thing and truly feel that I am meant to do a task or to share these 'noble thoughts' with others.

But then because  I live and love an everyday life, that life steps in and changes my priorities. Even though my passion is still there God has asked me to use that passion in other ways for the time being. So even though I still feel that passion it isn't appropriate to follow the original course of action I had planned on.

So what caused such a stir in my heart that I let it take hold?
Really, I hesitate to share it because it really isn't that big a deal. It is a minor event in the grand scheme of my life and yours too.
Yes a little event in my life that you had probably not even remembered I said it. However I let it be a big deal for me when I know it is not an earth shattering event that will change the course of history.

I let it change history though because I let what others think, yep, that's you guys at the moment, or rather what I perceived others would think,  dictate my own actions.

I can't believe I actually wrote that!

I rarely allow others expectations to guide my actions and in fact can often deliberately choose to not follow 'standard' ways of acceptable behaviour or actions.
In fact I know my beloved can remember this as one of my most endearing qualities, memorable qualities from our days at school even.

I believe it is important to know where each of us stands on issues of importance and be prepared to take a stand regardless of what others think of us.
A quote I often say to our children -
"Right is right even when no one else is doing it.
Wrong is wrong even when everyone else is doing it"

We have to make sure that we are not affected by others perceived thoughts and thus allow those thoughts to change how we do things, how we react and how we live our lives.

I sadly let this happen, in a small way, that changed my behaviour in a way I feel is ridiculous  now.

But it has also allowed me the privilege of reflecting on my own response to this and then choosing to look at how important this is in my own life and strengthening my resolve in not letting others or how I perceive others think and/or act to affect my own choices and actions in this- MY LIFE.

What was the event in my life that caused this reflection?
Such a minor one really.
I felt compelled to write a series  of posts (and still do) about being a Queen of My Castle. I feel this is an important role for women of our generation to be encouraged in our roles as Keepers of the Heart- Homemakers.
As part of that series I had several life events that I wanted and still do want to share.
I said I would share Part 2 very soon and had every intention of doing that.

I did however know this was a 'thinking post' as I call them and my life at the moment had not allowed me to have what I know, for me to be, proper thinking room.
Fair enough!
That's life!
Agreed!

What I did then though was not!
I allowed the thought that your my readers would expect that post and therefor that was all I could write on.
Truly?
Yes!
Ridiculous! Again yes!

First off  I mostly write to encourage and share about our life as an everyday family living in that 'non exciting world of actual real life' that most of us inhabit. I do like to share how we take the joy of everyday and build memories together, because that is how we live our life.
I let my perceived ideas or opthers thoughts take this from me and I felt I could not write anything else till I had written this post.

Until I started to think about it and then I could see that I hadn't shared the joys of what we had been doing in our lives and saw how long it was between posts.
Because I allowed this to happen I let the joy I have in sharing those ideas here be stolen away, I allowed not following my heart because I didn't want you (others) to say " she didn't do what she said she would."

Such a trivial event and yet it can if let go cause great distress.
I know not to let it happen again.
Not here in my corner of bloggyland and not in my 'everyday' life either.

I know I need to be strong. To stay focused on what is important to me and to  life my life to the fullest!
So I would ask how about YOU?

"All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.

A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance.

A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.

A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away.

A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.

A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace.

What hath man more of his labour?

I have seen the trouble, which God hath given the sons of men to be exercised in it.

 He hath made all things good in their time, and hath delivered the world to their consideration, so that man cannot find out the work which God hath made from the beginning to the end.

And I have known that there was no better thing than to rejoice, and to do well in this life.

For every man that eateth and drinketh, and seeth good of his labour, this is the gift of God."

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-13

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

" Most" Posts of 2013

It's been a long time since I joined in a link up party ( I avoid them as I find them stressful as they are usually weekly things but this is a once off so.................) but I thought this one very interesting.
Sarah at Amongst Lovely Things is hosting this 'Most Posts for 2013 so here they are -

POST WITH THE MOST CLICKS-
Homemade  Brown Sugar an Coffee Facial/Body Scrub
Making our own products for cleaning of self and home  has been a growing interest of mine this year with many of our items from home being made right in our kitchen.

POST WITH THE MOST COMMENTS -
I have noticed comments are not as they used to be on my blog. Probably I don't 'visit' as much to other blogs and the interaction isn't there, but I think mostly my comments come on the post through Facebook comments or the corresponding photo through Instagram
A New Life was my most popular this year though followed by our son's wedding

POST WITH BEST PICTURE -
Are you serious!!!!! I can't choose a best picture from my blog.
Most of my posts are super picture intensive soooooo
I asked one of my children to choose one for me- well, I didn't like the one she choose  and then I realised I loved most of the pictures from this post  A Little Girl + Flowers = Joy.
Yes now  I am sure this one has lots of my favourite photos

POST THAT WAS HARDEST TO WRITE-
Saying Goodbye was by far the hardest to write this year as we said goodbye to our most precious baby.
I was not sure how to write this and  defining and the putting my own feelings and emotions into this post was really hard. However it was a way to grieve that gave how I was feeling a 'realness' that I was very thankful for.

POST THAT WAS MY PERSONAL FAVOURITE (NOT READERS FAVOURITE) -
Ok I am going to break rules here as I find I actually don't have a favourite post this year.
In fact I see that as I look over the last year  of posts that I am not happy with what I see on my blog.
It seems I haven't blogged a lot, and then I don't seem to have captured in my own opinion what it is that I believe my blog is about.
"The joy in the everyday life of our family as we celebrate the everyday as well as  the special days of our lives" Perhaps I can return the lustre to my blog next year, I hope so anyway.
So here are a few posts that I think relate to what I try to share:
Atmosphere- it really does matter
Skirts, petticoats, Aprons and Boots
The Little Things
It is All in the Living
Take Hold of Each Moment
and for something different
Why are we scared of Halloween? This was one I wasn't sure if I would get a bad reaction from and contemplated posting at all.

I hope to see what else the other bloggers have posted over at Sarah's blog.
See you there!!


Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Whats in my Drafts Folder???

After a post from a friend and then a chat on the phone about how many posts are in her drafts I told her how many I thought I had in my own folder, around 150.

Needless to say when I later went to check my own folder I found 453.
Yes that  certainly is a lot of thoughts floating around in there.
If I get an idea I usually try to put it down so I can concentrate on other things and so I don't forget what it was I wanted to share.

So I just thought I would have a look at what was in that folder  (well not all of them)  and perhaps see what themes were common among them.

Here is a list of the latest 15 -
*The Lambs and how they have grown- life of the lambs from when thy first came till now
*It's all in the Living- family life random shots over a period of time
*Mud Kitchen- another update of uses of this
*At Days End- the beauty I find in the tidy up outside each day and how we organise toys and how this brings peace to me
* A mixture of Feast Days- a catch up post about various feast days lately
*Our Home Apothecary- how I have organised our herbal remedies and what we have as well as new additions
*Sprouting Grains - how to sprout grains and use them
*My Herb Garden- from planting till now
*Greek Yogurt- how to make Greek Yogurt
* Peachy Rum Pudding Cake- recipe for this delectable cake
*Spring Play Ring- a toy I made as we started spring
*Chai Tea with out the tea- my recipe for this
*It's been a Year Now - a reflection on our move and the year we have settled in here
*Trim Healthy Mama- not sure what I wanted to say here yet
*Let Me give You a tour- a tour around this home and outdoor living too
*Making a Peg Doll St Lucy and Star boy- how to make these

My first 15 unpublished drafts way back in March 2009 Jan 2010
* Nature on our Doorstep- from our back yard
* Inspirational Images
* Mothering
* Prayers
* Pirate Study- a unit study we did
* The Talking Stick- a decorative stick a child made based off a movie we saw
* Month of the Sacred Heart- plans and ideas
* Educational Methods- the different types we use and how we use them
* Book Review- fav books
* Beautiful Girls- about my girls
* Refrigerator Cake- recipe
* Enjoying the Journey through December- a monthly series I started doing
* Cakes- recipes
* Planning a Wardrobe- plans for designing and making clothes
* Lord of the Rings

And somewhere in the Middle January 2012 to around October 2012
* Eliminating Clothes - sorting and the blessing of being given clothes
* Initial Costing of Grain and Sugar Free Eating- receipts comparing
* Autumn's Gangster Theme- plans and ideas for things we made for her 18th birthday party
* The Extras- other items we started to make grain free
* Main Meals we have Eaten- recipes and rating of Grain Free food we had started to eat
* Peace in my Heart- how to have this attitude every day
* Autumn Leaf  Person Tutorial - how to make an autumn leaf person for the seasons table
* Making Silk Marionettes - how to make silk marionettes Autumn and I did this together
* Home made Lemonade and Ginger Beer - recipes for both
* Teenagers and Privacy-
* What is it about Waldorf- my opinion on why we like to add this to our home and the paranoia that I sometimes see about it in Christian circles
* The Stigma of Late Readers- about peoples perceptions of the child and HS teaching of late readers
* Sensory Processing Disorder- what this is and how it is a non visual disability and hence again not seen as a disability leading to judgement
* Birthday Fairy- how to make a birthday fairy tutorial
* Good Bye to Tasmania?Hello New World- about our move to Wagga but still the grief of leaving
* Does Your Blog Reflect You- about how I try to make my blog be a mirror of how I really am and how I live my life,.
* My Waring Passions- books, craft, blogging, family life and how I don't always balance these
* The Story of a Home- about our house in Tassie, how we built it and how it was so hard to leave behind. It contained so much of us
* Our Learning Style and Books that have influenced our HS Journey- well a bit about both
* Cultured Foods- our journey into Lacto fermentation
* Where are the Skills of our Young People?- a look at basic manners and how often young adults and 'teens' ( I hate that word) seem to lack them
* How Images and what they mean to me- how I am drawn to certain images and why

Well that is some of the drafts in my folder.
I'm not sure about any real reoccurring themes but I do think that I cover a variety of topics on and off.
I have noticed that some of the ones I have were ones that were published but I had a double copy saved for some reason.
Anyway perhaps I may get to some of these posts or others like them soon and then again maybe not- I might just add to the folder instead with other thoughts that are  begging to be released. :)

I would love to know what you have in your Drafts Folder if you care to share!!!

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

"Bloglovin"

It seems there are so many new ways to keep up with our favourite blogs these days and so like many I am following the  new bandwagon to Bloglovin.
So on my side bar I have added this Follow my blog with Bloglovin widget to my blog for interested followers.
Frankly I am not sure how this all works but I guess it is a case of being open to new things and learning on the job......Hey that sounds familiar.
It seems to be the rule of my life.

And here ends this little commercial!

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Have you Ever...............

Have you ever had those days or weeks when it seems you run form one thing to another trying to get done all that you have on your list, whether written or in your head or perhaps like me both, only to find that the days have gone by and still you have not achieved all you wanted to do.

We had a very busy weekend, in fact a four day weekend in which we were able to spend much time together on and off with some and then others of our children.

We planned so many things but the 'everydayness' of life kept intruding, and yet it is in these most precious moments that the building of memories happens and I know that I need to constantly evaluate the importance of these times and step back from my plans and live each day enjoying the gifts of my husband, children and home. I need to be truly present and enjoying the journey together that is so different and yet so similar each day.

We have achieved a great many things in the past week and I have wanted to be able to record them  here to remember, but found it hard to find the time. In fact I seem to go through stages of being able to fit a lot of 'scapbooking' here on the blog and then there are times that are equally as busy and yet  I cannot manage to get to it at all.

And really that is OK!
Cause I just need to remember and to know that I am doing this for all the right reasons, in my own scheme of things and fitting with our family's cod of ethics and morals.
Remembering hat posting here is about what I can find the time to share and not being felt pressured to keep up with all those those amazing blogging superstars.

Now having said that I have so much I am partly through wanting to post. We have made many skin care products and played games and started to enjoy the Autumn season around us as well as those treasured memories made over the last few days.

So be prepared to share in our family's adventures as I continue to find the time to add to our living 'scrapbook!!'

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

How to make designer Labels and Headers for your Blog

Here it is the promised tutorial on making designer labels and Blog Headers I talked about in a previous post
First off-  all you need is access to the free files in picmonkey and your own images.

I am going to walk you through the actual making of a label like I have on my side bar and similar to my current header.
Really it is quite easy and you will get the hang of it no time!!
Oh and due to the fact I couldn't think of any way to do this except to take photos while doing the tutorial that is how I will explain it to you.
Are you ready?

If so on with the tutorial¬


1. Part One¬
Open picmonkey and then.......

choose the option  'create a collage' this then takes you to the screen shot above.
If you run your cursor along the left hand side you will see some tags to choose. Click on the one with three squares and says layout.

2. Which opens this screen shot.
Click on 'Ducks in a row' and choose the number of ducks in a row you want, click on it.
For this time I have chosen two.

3. Go to the center of the two squares and drag the line to the left until it is under the 'o' in open. Which is what you can see above

4. Next click on the palette picture on the left of the screen again and open to screen shot above.
See the 'spacing' at the top drag your courser  back to left which leaves you with no spacing at all.

5. Above the palette picture is what I call dogtags but are called 'swatches' here, click on them to open a background.
See at the top of this there is a drop down arrow click on it to open choices.
I used the sweetheart range for mine but you can use the other two choices or even something from your own computer.
If you use your won you will have to open it up and bring it back to picmonkey.

6. Simply drag your choice of back ground to the left hand side of the two squares.
Now obviously if you wanted to use more 'ducks in a row' or another shape you simply add more at this stage.

7. For this side I did use my own picture and then dragged it to the other side.
If for some reason you want to change the picture, no problem drag it back out and get what you prefer.
At the top of the page you will see some options click on 'save'

8. Which opens up this option.
Over on the left it will say 'PicMonkey Collage' i change mine to what ever I am labeling it. In this case 'collagesidebarautumnbooklist' I know long name that one.
Leave everything else and click on save photo

9. Over on the right at the very top you will see an ' X' this will close this first part of your label and allow you to move to part two. So go on click it closed, BUT make sure you have saved your collage first!!

10. This is part two¬
We are back to the first screen shot again.
This time click on Edit a photo and it will open up where you have saved your previous photo.
Choose it and it will come up in the screen .

11. Now you have a whole heap of options on the left hand side.
I would advise having a little look and play with the options to see what is available.

12. But for this tutorial I will take you to what look like talking balloons  They are actually called 'overlays; when you click  them. Click away!!

13. Now once again there a lot of choices. Some free and some not.
The ones I have chosen are free.
Scroll down and take a look again at what is available and what you like.
The ones I am using are called 'labels' so click that and it opens the screen shot above.

14. Choose the shape you want and drag it over to the collage you created earlier. It will be black on the screen in this case but you will see there is a colour box that has opened up on the right. We will use this to change to the colour you want to use for the 'cloud' as I call it.

15. If you are using any colour except whit or black and want to make matching labels I advise you to write down the number code for future reference. For example fff9e3 is one I have used before.
You will need to use the cursor to get the same colour, if that matters to you (it does to me) again and again for multiple labels.
Drag the cloud to where you think you will want it.

16. Now you can make it larger or smaller by simply using the points at he four corners and dragging it out or in diagonally. When you have it in place click out side the box and see if you like it.
If not simply click on your 'cloud' and the box that moves will appear again and you can adjust to your hearts content.

17. This step is the  writing you want to put on your label.
See the big 'P' on the left again, click on that and you will have a choice of script appear. The one you choose will be highlighted in blue.

18. Now go up to the top of all the script choice and  click on 'add text'
When you do this a box will appear in which to write your  label AND a colour selection box on the right again.
If you do not want to go with basic white or black, make sure you write down your colour choice again for future reference. Mine is 8e0005 for this one.
Now I must admit it IS hard to get the same one over and over, cause I could never go with plain black or white right, so sometimes I have used two very close colours as it makes the getting the correct colour easier.

19. Be sure to click on that middle block of three lines to center your text automatically. It makes it much easier. You can choose font size now but again you can alter it  as you go so don't worry too much.

20. You can do all your writing in one long line and adjust it once or you can go through the process of adding text again to write a second time.
Again the corners pulled diagonally will adjust the text size up or down.
By the way you will notice at the top of each page there are two  kinda arrows- these will erase or put back anything you have done as long as you do not change the page itself.

21. When you are content. Click save at the top of the page again

22. and this screen shot will come up.
Now this step is important.
If you are keeping this as a blog header just type in your file name and save as it is HOWEVER  if you are making labels like I have for the side of your blog you need to change the size to fit the blog.
So see the words dimensions and some numbers and then the word 'change' click on the word change.....

23. this screen shot will appear with the dimensions  3000 x 1500 put in the dimensions you want to use. Once again if you are making a blog header this is fine but for side bar labels they will need to be smaller.

24. For the labels on my blog I used 250 x 150,
Now when you type in 250 picmonkey automatically re-sizes the other dimension to suit. So if you want to manually change it you can but this is very proportioned.
Click save photo it will save to your computer and ...............

25.  'Voila' now you have a custom designed label or blog header for your blog.

Of course you now add it to your blog as you would any picture and provide the link for it.
Just a note I did not tick the shrink to fit on my labels as I thought they were too small but you do what you want for your own personal touch.

I do hope this has been easy to understand but if you have any questions just leave a comment and I will try to help.
Also sorry for the blurry screen shots in some cases but  I had a wiggly little one 'helping me'

Blessings to you and your homes,