Saturday 21 January 2017

Saturday Snippets

We actually managed to make church today! This is a big deal at our end since we have not attended in months due to continued ill health. It was just lovely to be in the presence of The Lord and I had a bonus by also attending confession, the best form of therapy and totally free :-)

It has been a mixed week in the school room with bursts of activity followed by periods of independent learning when I had been up all night due to sickness and needing to rest the next day.  I have rallied in between so two outings were accomplished much to Pip's relief!!  That girl just hates being home bound and can climb the walls both literally and metaphorically if she is cooped up two days in a row ;-)

Knitting has been my go to therapy and I am currently tackling one of my goals which is to make handmade gifts throughout the year for birthdays and Christmas where possible.  I also have an additional challenge of 12 pairs of handmade socks in a year, so it will be interesting to see how I fair.

Here are our pictures of the week:

 I made my own home made deoderant and it not only turned out surprisingly well it works well too!  It is a combination of coconut oil, bicarbonate of soda, cornstarch and organic essential lemon oil.  My mix is not an anti-perspirant but I don't have any real issues in that department.  However I have since learned that Zinc Oxide is a natural antiperspirant and so I might consider adding it to the next batch.


 Pip enjoyed using the felted Rosary that I made and we prayed one of the joyful mysteries together.


Pyjama home school before breakfast and yes that is the correct time!  That was the morning of my being up all night quite unwell.  I sat in the rocking chair with a hot water bottle and my knitting.  Pip was quite surprised to see me up and about at such a time!



 My January socks, one pair down eleven more to go :-)



 Sour cherry, cacao and almond bites.  The cherries contain anti inflammatory properties and the combination of the three ingredients are also supposed to help with insomnia aswell as pain, I can report that they and the Potters' Herbal sleep remedy did the job.




 Pip totally bemused by an old fashioned type writer, " You actually put paper in the top and it doesn't send emails?!!"



 Lovely gifts from friends!  Pip grabbed the camera and took this fuzzy picture to show Chanda that she loves her cat!  We love the napkins Dorina and the books what a lovely gift to cheer on a dreary January day :-)



 #womensmarch #pinkhat

Women and men marched on Washington today sporting pink hats in the shape of a cat's head;  there were also similar marches in London. Even Cate Blanchett was spied wearing such a tifter in a similar march in NYC on Thursday.  They were marching against Donald Trump and his so called "values."

Here in the Madness Abode there have been no pink hats but pink slippers instead!  Standing in solidarity with those marching against hatred and division today.  These slippers are quite poignant; they were bought by a dear family friend whose wife died at the start of last year.  Aunty Maureen loved butterflies :-)  She had a generous heart and would always reach out to others in need and I know that she would be appalled at the state of our world.  How can one man who has displayed such appalling behavious be in charge of and represent a nation?
Renegade knitters unite! 

12 comments:

dorinalouise said...

Hello San, I'm glad you like the gifts and enjoyed opening them on a grey day :) I hope you continue to get good sleep and can be pain free. I did not do much knitting today, but a lot of costume dyeing. The last one did not go as well as I would have liked. Time for some sleep! xoxo, Dorina

elli said...

Prayers for improved sleep, San {{hugs}}

Kezzie said...

A great selection here! I am so intrigued by your deodorant. I DO tend to need an antiperspirant- I try to use natural deos but I have issues with them in that department!!! The pressies for Pip were nice and I am so glad you got to church for confession!!x

Eva said...

12 pairs of socks! That is a real challenge. I woul never manage to do that. You should tell Pip that one of the doctors in our area has his nurses type all his notes on a typewriter. No computers there! That Rosary is a neat idea for little people. The deodorant sounds interesting. I would have never thought of making my own. So nice Pip can work on her own. Flora has not managed to do so so far. But she is a slow learner in all areas. We just got a copy of "Ant and Bee." I will use that series to boost her reading skills. We found the first book in the library and will try to use them all. Do you know the series? I also ordered some main lesson books at Myriad. I ordered from them last time we were in London. Their service was quick! Do you know Ichthus? They carry some American resources. Oh well, I am tired. I have had a long day with homeschooling, shopping, the cleaning lady here, and skyping. Peter was gone all day. Have a good night and I hope you will be feeling well soon again.

Sandra Ann said...

We have the galloping the globe book from Icthus. I have also heard of ant and bee. It is interesting you mentioning Flora's reading because all I can think is that she is bi lingual maybe even tri lingual if you add in the French, that is quite an achievement in my book!! Mind you since she is the baby of the family and you are an experienced home schooler you will notice more readily any anomalies. Your days sound super busy but I guess it must be a great help to have someone come in and clean?

My health is not great at all and I am living with daily chronic pain but I get by and that is what counts :-) xx

Sandra Ann said...

Zinc Oxide is a natural anti perspirant it reduces the size of the pores in the sweat glands and therefore one does not sweat/glow/perspire as much :-) x

Sandra Ann said...

We love the gifts! Love your costume dyeing and looking forward to catching up with you at the end of the week x

Sandra Ann said...

Thanks they are much appreciated xx

Eva said...

It is kind of nice to have someone to clean (I have never had that), but she only cleans every other week. So there is still lots to clean in between. And it is easier to leave the house for two hours while she cleans. So we do need to go someplace. She also does not really dust a lot, she cleans more the "big things." She does not speak much English, I have to ask her where she is from. But she told Charlotte that she thought it was great Charlotte had so many siblings!

We read the first Ann and Bee book today and Flora thought it was cute. We are still working on getting through Catholic Heritage's phonics program. I was successful with that program with Charlotte and Miriam. Jonathan learned English reading purely through the Live Ed! ideas. And Veronika taught herself. So Flora is very different. But she will get there. She just has no interest herself. She is surrounded by letters, signs, etc., but she does not try to read them. She is very good with oral English and German, though. She has a huge vocabulary and an incredible memory.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I thought it great you made it to church and confession!

We just finished dinner, now there is some more school time. Jonathan and Charlotte are trying a new ballet studio.

Sandra Ann said...

Well done to you for schooling of an evening. I did that many moons ago with Benedict but now I am too exhausted to even think beyond knitting!! I hope the ballet studio works out for Johnathan and Charlotte xx

Sue Elvis said...

San,

I'm so pleased you were well enough to get to Mass and confession! We are keeping you in our prayers xxx

PS: I LOVE the felted Rosary!

Sandra Ann said...

Thank you for the prayers they are much appreciated ❤️❤️