The Homesteady

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We're celebrating Valentine's Day tomorrow by having a lazy breakfast at home (I'm thinking pink waffles) and giving each other a gift or two. I ordered this book for Miles – he loves the moon one in the series, and I was thinking we could get him the earth one for Easter this year [affiliate links].

THEN begins a whole week off from work whilst daycare is closed for February break! We're not planning any travel; I'm excited to just enjoy being home and in our community with Miles. Kristie has also lightened her schedule (she works from home) so we'll have some good family time. I've scoped out some kids' events that are taking place nearby, and made a list of things to do together like ride the bus, go out to breakfast, and make birdseed ornaments. 

One more quick thing! I'm using this app to enjoy two books for free: The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert [affiliate link], which I'm listening to as an audiobook and has me volunteering to do daycare drop-off and pick-up just so I can keep listening, and Run Away by Harlan Coben [affiliate link], which I'm reading on my Kindle before bed every night. Each is so entertaining! (Coben is responsible for that new Netflix show "The Stranger," which we similarly devoured.)

 

Links for your Friday

50 different Swedish words for snow

How American history gets the Rosa Parks story wrong

We all need to take a walk

Stop trying to teach toddlers how to code

An artist used makeup to show what endometriosis feels like (warning: graphic)

The top 10 most checked-out library books of all time

Prehistoric baby spoons

I made these scones last night and cut them out with a heart-shaped cookie cutter

Making space for Jo's queerness in the new Little Women movie (I saw it and loved it!)

American Girl releases its first doll with hearing loss

The Zora Canon: The 100 greatest books ever written by African American women

Cozy Paris restaurants that have fireplaces (idk, feels relevant)

Feeling lonely? Taking a warm bath might help

Gender (stereotype)-free toddler clothes, v.3

Six new favorites. Posts like these are such a good outlet for me – like shopping without having to pay! I'm going to the thrift store on Wednesday and will be keeping my eye out for some new clothing additions for everyone's closet (but shopping for toddler clothes is always especially fun). 

Cat bodysuit / Texture knit pants
Romper / Polka dot sweatshirt
Cactus tee (on sale) / Bobble cardigan

All these links are affiliate links.

DIY conversation heart felt board

One more Valentine's Day-themed DIY to share this week, because apparently Valentine's Day will be here Friday! Which seems soon to me, ha. I've a bit of shopping to do for my two favorite loves in the next few days, but here's a project I made for Miles to play with. Can you tell we have lots of felt? 

I used white craft paint to draw a rough jar shape (and yes, I did have to look up pictures of jars to get it right) on a large piece of gray felt, and cut out lots of tiny heart shapes in pastel candy colors reminiscent of conversation hearts. I borrowed a heart-shaped sticker from Miles's collection to serve as a guide for the cutting. 

Felt sticks to felt, so that's it! He's been enjoying moving the hearts into the jar, and it's become (somewhat accidentally) a good color identification exercise for us – I'll ask him to move just the purple hearts, just the green ones, etc. I attached it to the wall with packing tape – not ideal, but I haven't the energy for a better solution, at least not until we move house and I can install a somewhat permanent area to switch out seasonal themed felt boards, since this is our second lately and they've been fun for all of us. 

Homemade Valentine's Day heart pins

Holidays are, no joke, 300% more fun with a toddler around who's even remotely aware of what's going on. We leaned heavily into Christmas magic last year, and now that Valentine's Day is on the horizon, making lots of heart-shaped crafts too. 

Here are the tiny gifts Miles and I made for his beloved daycare grown-ups using scrap felt, craft paint, and pin backs [affiliate link]. 

I set out some of our larger scraps of felt along with paint and paintbrushes, and let him get to work. After it had dried and he had gone to bed for the night, I traced rough hearts on the back of the painted pieces, cut them out, and hot-glued the pin backs onto them.

I know I'm biased as his parent, but I think the art and gifts that Miles makes (or has a hand in making) are so meaningful and special. I have a feeling his daycare teachers share that sentiment ;) I hope they enjoy these.

Busy winter hands & minds

The past few Januarys I've made it a point to be intentional about planning projects and setting goals to occupy my hands and mind (and hopefully to somewhat stave off the chilly fingers of Seasonal Affective Disorder). It can feel difficult to face three or four more months of cold and darkness once Christmas is over! Having Miles in our lives has helped very much though, I think. I've written before (even though I can't find it) that he flourishes with routine, with time spent outside, with projects that stimulate his imagination and creativity – and I do too, by extension. Sometimes it feels easier to prioritize these things for his sake rather than my own, and then we both benefit. And keeping a list to which to refer in moments of temperature-induced apathy helps tremendously. 

Here are a few of the outlets we'll be entertaining from now until March:

• Organize the bathroom cabinets
• Make a lacing toy
• Write our will
• Cook poutine for dinner (always reminds me of this trip)
• Dye a couple of linen shirts with onion skins
• Get a grip on our finances (try YNAB again)
• Find someone to fix my grandpa's herb book
• Sew a wee mouse tin house [affiliate link]
• Start getting rid of the junk in our basement
• Maybe get Miles a weighted blanket [affiliate link]
• Bake GF sourdough bread
• Look critically at M's toys (what can we get rid of? what kinds of materials do we want to bring in? what do we want to encourage?)

Here's something funny. In that picture up above, Miles and I were on a snowy walk with my parents and their dog, Chance. M had stepped in dog poop by accident and my mom was cleaning off his boot in the snow, so she put one of her mittens on his right foot in the meantime to keep him warm. Do you see it? 

How to make a watercolor rainbow pillow

When I was pregnant – well, even before I was pregnant – I thought about how much fun it would be to learn what my child loved and then fill their world with that thing, you know? Just support whatever it was they couldn't get enough of. At age 2, Miles has a couple of those: basketball, horses, ballet, and rainbows. And it's just as much fun as I thought it would be to watch him walk wide-eyed into the Basketball Hall of Fame, to ride perched atop a somnolent pony at the fair, to point out a rainbow arching over our house. 

I wanted to get him a stuffed rainbow toy for Christmas last year, and found this one [affiliate link] on Amazon, but it seemed a little pricey. My friend Katy had been doing watercolor painting on fabric, so I decided to make my own for Miles. 

(I don't have any photos of the process, which I feel bad about. My phone's camera started taking pictures on a delay, so they're all blurry. Kristie surprised me with a new one for Christmas though!)

1. I mixed fabric medium [affiliate link] with water and painted a rainbow using basic watercolors and a foam brush onto cotton muslin. I let it dry and then put it in the dryer according to the fabric medium's instructions to set the paint.
2. Once it was totally dry, I cut out the rainbow and a matching piece of gray felt for the back. I pinned the pillow sides together (painted side facing in) along with a piece of fun vintage trim I happened to have.
3. I machine-sewed along both arches and one short side, then turned the piece inside out and stuffed it. I stitched the other side closed by hand.

It reminded me of this project, and another one I did for Christmas which was so much fun.

I have to tell you about these five things...

1. For my birthday I picked out the most comfortable bra I've ever worn, and I ordered another one for Christmas. (Use this link for $15 off your first purchase.) Affiliate link
2. We had groceries delivered for the first time in October and we have not gone back! (Use code K9435AE165 for $10 off your first order.)
3. Similarly, I tried (and loved) Target's drive-up service.
4. I bought a very long down North Face winter coat on Poshmark for only $65 – it's like wearing a sleeping bag. (If you're new to the app, use code HWAREHAM for $10 off)
5. Miles has been showing interest in helping us cook dinner, and proudly using this knife to help chop things (carefully and with close supervision of course)! Affiliate link

A bright red statement sweater

I think probably like all makers, I really like knitting for the people I love. You think about them while you're working, knotting different intentions and memories into each row. It's an opportunity almost for meditation on that person, maybe something close to a prayer.

I'd hinted heavily to my sister that I'd be making a sweater for her for Christmas, and she hinted heavily back that she wanted something chunky and in bright red. I worked up this sweater in a size small. There's much pleasure to be had in super bulky yarn and a nice, thick needle – even just a few minutes working on it made me feel so productive – plus a bigger project like this warms your lap as you work! (It's the little things, isn't it?)

I'm trying to do a better job at keeping track of the patterns and supplies I rely on so I can report them better here. So: I used this yarn in the color claret. (I usually do my yarn shopping at Webs since it's a five-minute walk from our home, but they're closed on Sundays and sometimes I can't bear to not have a project on my needles!)

What to do with heels of bread

1. Make croutons
2. Make breadcrumbs
3. Make birdseed ornaments
4. Eat them like a grown-up (just kidding, you don't have to)

Here & there

This holiday season has been about 3,000% more magical because of Miles. He's so into Christmas, Santa, the Polar Express, and anything holiday-related. His interest and curiosity about everything is one of my favorite parts of him being two. (Yes, tantrums have ramped up, but gosh – I think this is my favorite age yet!) I will say, I think we may have jumped the gun by a year or two with the advent calendar. It's hard to see that there are more gifts in the waiting pockets, but only be allowed to liberate one per day. 

Anyway, everything else has been magical. Last night Katy and Allan came over to exchange gifts (we are so lucky, for-crying-out-loud!) and then after Miles went to sleep his new babysitter came over to watch the monitor, and the grown-ups went out for a late dinner. I've been listening to these songs at work. I have just one more homemade gift to finish, and then I'll be done with my shopping/making for the year! Nearly everything is wrapped, too. And we're taking Miles to a family-friendly show of The Nutcracker this afternoon – I think he'll like it. He picked out a ball decorated with ballerinas when we visited Yankee Candle last weekend (see? we're doing all the holiday things!) and we've been talking about what strong, amazing athletes dancers are. 

Kristie's birthday is 10 days before Christmas, so I've also been trying to gather extra-special gifts for her. We're going to celebrate this weekend with this breakfast (I make it for her birthday every year), a trip to the trampoline park, and then brunch. She and I are also always happy to visit Thornes on our birthdays for all the discounts, so we'll probably stop there too. On Dec. 21, winter solstice, we'll have her birthday dinner with my family. I'm hoping to also weave in some solstice practices (this list has good ideas – I've already put the ingredients for wassail on our shopping list) to help make that a meaningful evening.

Friends, are you feeling caught up on holiday to-do's? What are you enjoying most about life right now?

 

Links for your Friday

Santa got my Christmas list! Impeachment articles have been approved by the panel and sent for a House vote (NYT)

Amazon's predictions for the 100 most popular holiday toys [affiliate link]

This is a mouse deer and I love it

The Baltimore Museum of Art is buying only from female-identified artists next year

Knitting Mr. Rogers's Smithsonian cardigan

A heartwarming profile of Chrissy Tiegen and John Legend

Pinterest and The Knot are going to stop promoting weddings that romanticize former slave plantations 

I wonder how this cinnamon donut cake would taste with gluten-free flour...

I'm satisfied with the holiday crafting I've done this year, but next year I want to make dried orange and apple garlands to hang on the tree

A 44,000-year-old cave painting

A beautiful, beautiful DIY paper flower menorah