weekend finds

What's this? A yarn picture? Who, Sherrie? Knitting? I though she was way too impatient. Well, I've caved and succumbed. I bought some gorgeous yarn and am working on a cowl. And what's that that the yarn is placed on?

 

Well, it happens to be an absolutely perfect rocking chair, scored at an antique sale on the weekend. For a nifty price. I saw it the weekend before, and didn't buy it. I thought about it all week, and decided that it would be the chair that I would sit on when I'm old and wrinkly and knitting away. My feet touch the floor. It doesn't rock back too far. And the spindles cradle your whole body perfectly - they're not uncomfortable at all, as you might imagine. I am in love.

The satisfaction of buying a well-made, solid wood, beautiful functional object with a history makes my core hum in a very happy way. So much more lovely than a soulless factory-made piece of synthetic, flimsy materials.

 I also scored this gorgeous Cathrinholm bowl. (For $5!)

It was a swimmingly lovely weekend for many more reasons; more on that later. Happy Monday!

winter skin lotion

As promised:

Winter Skin Lotion

4 tbsp beeswax pastilles (makes a thick lotion; grated beeswax would make it a little bit thinner.
                                         You can control the thickness by adjusting the amount)
8 oz olive oil (or other oil, depending on your skin type - grapeseed oil is a lighter option)
4 tsp coconut oil
8 tbsp water
essential oils, if desired

Melt beeswax in a double boiler. Add coconut oil when the beeswax is almost entirely melted. I use a glass measuring cup in one of my stainless steel pots. Warm olive oil oil briefly in microwave, just so it's slightly warm and not cold (cold oil will cause the beeswax to re-harden). Add the olive oil to beeswax and coconut oil, and whisk until everything's liquified, no longer.

Remove from heat. Use a stick blender and blend while slowly drizzling in the water. Continue mixing for another minute or so. The lotion will be quite hot and runny at this point, but will thicken as it cools. Blend it a bit every now and then as it's cooling, After it's cooled, you can add essential oils, if you like; I love this as an unscented lotion for the boys and myself, especially since I work in scent-free schools. Put into jars or bottles. I prefer a wide mouth jar, especially since it's a firm-ish lotion.

 Makes approximately 2 cups. Recipe can be doubled, halved, tripled, etc. Try it for a couple of weeks, and let me know how amazing your skin feels!

*The link to the place where I originally found this recipe no longer exists; if you let me know where it's moved, I'd be happy to link to it!*

ice wreaths

It's a snow day! Thomas is napping, and Adam is reading with Phillip. On the weekend, P and I made these ice wreaths, using a bundt pan and a big bowl with a ramekin in the middle. I saw the idea over at The Artful Parent, and knew that when some cold weather approached, we would be making them. And we did!

A few tips: don't put much water in; we put too much and everything floated, leaving thick ice on the front. Boil your water first, and it (supposedly) the ice will be clear. (I read that tip after we made them.) Try to weigh down cranberries or other floaty things with heavier, other naturey things. We used a sliced, old orange and some cedar twigs from a branch I pruned, and laid them on top of the cranberries. The bundt pan worked waaaay better than the bowl and ramekin; there's actually no hole in the one we made with the bowl because it expanded as the water froze. I'm hoping that the birds will come and eat the orange and cranberries as the wreaths thaw.

Other things we've been making:
Phillip was perfectly happy with a newspaper and a pair of scissors for awhile this morning. Give it a try!

Lovely (and easy) olive oil lotion for winter skin. The original link to the recipe no longer exists, so I'm glad that I printed it! I'll share it very, very soon.

I bought some yarn to try knitting (again)! It's gorgeous, and I'm hoping to make a cowl. Pictures soon.

Happy snow day! I hope you're warm and cozy. What's your favourite snow day activity?

on happiness (warning: it gets a little airy-fairy and long-winded)

I heard part of an interview with Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project last week and have been thinking about it ever since. (You can listen to it here; it's in the January 19th episode. I love Jian.)

I've written about my disposition before. I am happy. Cheerful. Content. Thankful. Lots of people comment on what a happy person I am. To a certain degree, it's just how I am. But a lot of it, I choose. I'll be the first one to say what a fortunate person I am, living in Canada, with a stunning (if I do say so myself) family, and good health. I also have a few university degrees, a job that I love, and the freedom to pursue hobbies which I also love.  While a little bit of this is out of my control, I've worked really hard for all of these things, too.

In order to foster my sense of contentedness and well being, I do a few things in particular which I've been thinking about.

1. I try to be content with what I have, while making it the best it can be.

For example: I love looking at gorgeous images of homes, gardens, and other people's spaces. Rather than lamenting and saying "If only I had that space, that money, lived in that place", I recognize what I like about it and figure out how to incorporate that into my life with what I have or can reasonably work toward. I have this house / job / situation. How can I make it the best it can be? Incidentally, we are looking for a perfect new-to-us home which a) allows chickens and goats and b) has space for the two kids and two home-based businesses we weren't planning for when we bought this house. In the meantime, we are making do (quite nicely, I think) and are thankful that we have a warm place where we're all together. It requires more effort to think proactively and productively, but the payoff in happiness and satisfaction is huge.

Speaking of effort paying off...*tidy segue*

2. Could a little bit of effort pay off in increased happiness? Usually, yes.

One of my non-New-Year's goals is to evaluate possible actions based on potential payoff. I think of it as "the worth-it factor". For example, I know that getting together with friends really makes me happy and thankful and all kinds of other warm-fuzzy descriptors. But it's easy to speed through the days and weeks and months just getting through. But I don't want to just get through, I want to love them and enjoy every minute. So, even though it's some extra work in planning, and preparing and cleaning up, it's worth the effort to me to have people over or to arrange to get together for a meal or playdate. Doing an extra something for someone like taking a loaf of bread to the neighbours is something which requires a little bit of effort on my part, but is worth it because it fosters a sense of community, shares something handmade, and shows that we care. Ummm... and it's delicious.

*here's where things get kind of flaky, but I really mean it*
I really, truly, deep-down believe that there are enough tragic, negative, heart-wrenching and horrible things that people have to go through and that people inflict on one another. As long as I'm able to, I want to put more beauty, love, and kindness out there, in any big or small way that I can.

So there. Is there one little thing that you've been meaning to do that could be worth the effort? What is it? Why have you been putting it off? Are you going to do it now?

Things that are making me happy (and thankful for my sight) today:
New flickr stream and blog that I just discovered and love. This ring is especially lovely, and did you see that tea selection? Dreamy.