Learning Life Skills

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Josie Crafter

Here’s my boy helping to wash up after lunch – how cute!

Washing up is one of the things I’ve wanted to introduce to the children for some months, in the spirit of helping them to learn about the day to day tasks involved in running a home and nurturing a family.  Yes, they are young to be doing housework, but in the spirit of Steiner Waldorf – the younger the better!

Every week they help to clean the house.  Mostly they do the dusting with a damp cloth, but they also help to scrub the floor, which they love doing.  On a daily basis, the children tidy their own beds, help to prepare food, set the table for meals, sort through clean laundry prior to helping to put it away, and of course, tidy up their own toys and playthings.  I’ve got two young but very helpful little people!

But until this week, I’ve not really pursued the washing up idea.  Why?  Because there are some tasks which are just too tricky with two little children, close in age, who are extremely competitive. I’ve tried this task in the past, but it just ended up causing me a lot of stress … not the result I was looking for!  But now that the little Miss is in school full-time, I’ve many hours just with the little fellow.

He wants me to interact pretty much all the time we’re together.  Which isn’t really possible, is it?  He misses having his sister to play with and so Mum is the second best choice… actually third best, after Daddy ;-)

Like plenty of other Mums, I find the best way to stay sane and serene is to include my little children in my activities rather than “faking it” by joining in their activities even when I’m not really interested.  Don’t get me wrong, some games and toys I absolutely love playing.  But, naturally, I’m not interested in all the same pastimes as my young ones.

Which brings me back to the washing up.  As you know I like to wash up after lunch.  Now I’ve a little helper too.  A bit of water play in the middle of every day – now that’s got to be fun in any toddlers book, hasn’t it?

How about you?  How do you include other family members, children and adults (!) in your daily activities?

 

Posted in steiner | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Josie Crafter

Four hungry busy people; a fluctuating low budget for groceries; a vegetable garden which isn’t growing fast enough due to the ridiculously cold and wet weather, and the over-riding desire to eat fruit and veg grown mostly in the UK … well, put all that together and you’ve got some idea how I found my way to making the soup featured in today’s recipe.

Anyway,  I’m encouraging my family to embrace traditional British Veg.  Such as swede, turnips, cabbage, cauliflower … you know the rest.  These vegetables are cheap to buy and contain large amounts of vitamins and minerals, so they’re win:win veggies.  The children are very good at eating any veg’s I put in front of them, but Mr Happy – well, he’s a more fussy customer.  So I often have to ‘disguise’ some of the vegetables I serve.

Cauliflower is one of the big no-no’s in Mr H’s gastronomic book of delights/hates.  But he is happy to eat it hidden in a curry or soup.  With this in mind, I’m sharing with you my Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup, which is influenced by the Cauliflower Soup featured in Crank’s Recipe Book.  And how did the Sweet Potato creep in?  Surely they’re not British grown? No, they aren’t!  Well, I’ve a couple of them loitering in the fridge needing to be eaten – so one of them had to jump into the soup pot!  Not least, the sweet potato gives this soup an appetising pale golden colour, which a basic cauliflower and white potato soup lacks.

The fresh parsley is the only ingredient from my own garden – but at least that’s something!  I’ve a wonderful, bushy parsley plant which has grown happily all through the winter and now it’s positively rampant!  I love clutching the parsley leaves in my hands as I pass it by in my garden wandering – so fresh and aromatic – herbs are the happiest of plants, don’t you think?

Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup

1 Onion
1 large sweet potato
1 cauliflower
1 oz butter or margarine
generous handful of fresh parsley, chopped
quarter teaspoon Paprika
1 pint vegetable stock
1 pint milk
salt and pepper to taste

Chop the onion and potato then cook gently in the melted butter/margarine until the onion is soft.
Cut cauliflower into florets and chop the cauliflower leaves.  It seems such a waste to throw their leaves away, so I always include them!
Add cauliflower, chopped parsley, paprika and vegetable stock to the saucepan.  Bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Turn off the heat and add the milk.
Allow the mixture to cool, then whizz in a food processor until smooth.
Reheat and add salt / pepper to taste.
Now eat and enjoy :-)

How about you?  Do you try to eat mostly food from the soil of your own country?  How do you like to tweak recipes or disguise certain ingredients?

Posted in cooking, soup, vegetarian | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

First Party

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Josie Crafter

This week was the first time she went to a big birthday party with the whole class invited.  I cried when the invitation arrived a few weeks back, and today I cried seeing her so excited, so much a part of this great big energetic group of happy children. She’s come a long way.  We’ve all come a very long way.  Precious.

Posted in childhood magic, gratitude | Tagged , | 9 Comments

For Sale : Mollie Makes Magazines

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Josie Crafter

Introducing to you, the very first items to go on sale in “Josie’s Flea Market”  …

I’m obsessed with de-cluttering lately and the latest victims of my “use it or lose it” regime are some Mollie Makes Magazines !

If you’ve not already explored Mollie Makes, then you’ll love the inspirational projects, images and articles.  There’s plenty of crafting eye-candy here, for sure!

Some of the magazines still have the free gift with them, which I’ll send to you.  If I find other free gifts in the next few days, then I will, of course, post them to the buyers.

Unless, I’ve mentioned otherwise, all magazines are in pristine condition :-)

Here’s the lowdown ……….

All the following magzines are for sale at £4.00 each with £2.00 postage per magazine (to UK residents – international postage will be charged accordingly).

If you buy more than one magazine, then the postage will be combined and reduced as appropriate.

To buy any of these, just leave me a comment on this post only.  I’ll then email you to let you know how to pay, etc.

All items will be sold first come first served basis!

This applies to queries about magazines, as well as definite requests to buy, ie. if somebody asks a question about a particular issue of the magazine prior to asking to buy it, then I’ll reserve the magazine until that person has decided whether to buy or not.

You’re welcome to pay using Paypal or a personal cheque.  If using a cheque, I’ll post the item(s) to you once the cheque has been cleared.

So, here are the magazines for sale …

Issue 3:

Issue 5:

Issue 6:

Issue 8:

Issue 9: 

Issue 10:

Issue 11:

Issue 12:

(The paint splashes on my craft table are not for sale ;-)   )

I know there are others hiding in my home, someplace – and I’ll winkle them out during the de-cluttering and post them here once they’ve surfaced !

I’ll also be selling more “Selvedge” magazines, very soon….

 

Posted in Josie's Flea Market | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Adventures in Cornwall

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Josie Crafter

We had a family adventure in Cornwall last week, for just a few days.   Staying between Looe and Polperro, an area that Mr Happy and I both know very well from our childhood holidays.  (It seems we were both playing on Looe beach about thirty five years ago … ).  The great thing is that these seaside towns and villages have barely changed in all those years.

Ruby Campervan didn’t come on our mini-holiday, but she was with us in spirit :-)

Firstly, we had a nasty shock with our accommodation.  We’d booked a holiday cottage in the grounds of a hotel via Groupon.  The hotel website photos looked fine, so how were we to know what we’d find on arrival?  I’m usually okay about accommodation – “as long as it’s clean” – that’s my motto.

But imagine this: the garden furniture at the front of the cottage was tipped over; dog poo outside the cottage door; carpets were so old, dirty, stained and tatty that a flea would object to them; a faux sheepskin sofa-throw with big stains on it was the first thing on view as we walked through the door; a gang of flies danced around the ceiling light; dirty washing up water in the bowl; light fittings and other electrical wires which would fail to meet regulations; an electric bar heater circa 1960′s in the bathroom …. oh dear …. need I go on?  My words to Mr Happy were “Are we really staying here?!”

Fast forward a few hours … I’d spent the afternoon on Looe beach with the kiddiwinks whilst Mr Happy went in search of alternative accommodation.  And he found the most comfy, CLEAN !!!!!!, place for us to stay.   A modern wooden holiday lodge, thankfully offered to us by the owners of a B&B who took pity on Mr Happy’s desperate plea for help.  The lodge was ideal for our little travel-weary family who just want to rest our heads on clean pillows.  It had that easy-going home from home feeling, and we’d definitely consider going back there again.   Every cloud has a silver lining :-)

We then had a lovely couple of days.  Even some blue sky and sunshine – not a drop of rain the entire holiday!

The Monkey Sanctuary was so calm and peaceful, with a wonderful wildflower meadow and a view of the tranquil sea.  The rescue monkeys have the saddest stories – how can it be legal in the 21st Century to own a monkey as a pet?  But at least the inhabitants of the Sanctuary are the lucky ones, with plenty of space, lots of climbing equipment and the essential socialisation with other monkeys. The stories are sad, yes, but if you have a chance to visit, do go along and support this special rescue centre.

We paid a visit to the lovely Kirsty and family too.

Aah, you can imagine, Kirsty’s house is a treasure trove of her driftwood art and furniture – it’s hard to know where to look, there are so many lovely creations!  We spent all the time chatting as the four children played, so I’ve no photos to share with you – maybe next time.  Thank you Kirsty for welcoming us all :-)

On our final day, we played with pebbles and explored the rock pools at Talland Bay.  With all the rain and bad weather of the previous weekend, every beach we visitied was deeply edged with seaweed, so it wasn’t possible to dip any toes in the sea.  Our two loved playing in the gushing stream of freezing water which poured onto Talland Bay.

Now, a few days later, it’s lovely to revisit our Cornish adventure through photos.  It was such a short break away from daily life, but any little bit of time spent beside the coast is wonderful, isn’t it?

As I write, the children are watching “Spot” stories on DVD.  Little Miss Happy has an ear infection so she’s lying on the sofa, whilst Little Mr is glad of any excuse to watch TV ;-)

And me?  Well, I’m glad to have the time to write my blog!

I hope you’re all well and that you’ve had fun this bank holiday weekend.  What did you do?  Where did you go?

 

Posted in cornwall, gratitude, seaside | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments