For those of you that enjoyed the Wholesome Strawberry Bars yesterday, here is part two: packaging.

You just need:

• parchment paper (I keep a stash on hand from the local restaurant store)
• fabric cut into a long strip (does the yellow look familiar??)
• a tag (I usually make one but this one I loved from here)

This is one way I like to package baked goods to give to friends and neighbors.

It sure beats a flimsy paper plate.  Enjoy!

(If you want to watch the video full size, click here.)

Before you ask, the singer of O Ganso is one of my favorites: Astrud Gilberto.

the sleepy time gal

This morning I went for a quiet walk while kids slept.  I don’t feel any older today, but I am.  Now feeling movement and hiccups from this tiny one inside makes me feel more alive which is extra special today.  Yesterday was a busy day for Bobby and I talked on the phone for moments here and there with him and as he drive home late at night.  Last night he thanked God for our marriage as we kneeled together in prayer before going to bed.  I couldn’t ask for anything more in an anniversary.

Life is so fragile, isn’t it?  The moments that really reveal themselves to you of what is real and meaningful actually give you something solid to hold on to for life.  I’m grateful on this thirty-first birthday for real, special things in my life.

Dear friends, there seems to be so much to talk about on a rainy morning as I sit in my pajamas.

• We’re steadily working on giving this space a facelift.  Don’t you love this font?  Bobby is installing it for some of the text on this site.
• Our beautiful raised beds are getting lots of rain this week.  It is a shame there are no seeds benefitting from the rain.  Oh well, they are actually up and filled.
• Hearing the girls play upstairs this very second.  Caroline answering the knock at her bedroom door to Annabelle, “Have you stopped crying? Have you stopped stealing money?” I just heard a ‘yes’ and thankfully, Annabelle was welcomed in.  Have no clue what they are playing….

Good morning!

I hope you had a special weekend.  We had a busy, garden-building, pecan and caramel topped-waffle filled weekend–thank you to my little family!

Standby while we make this new space feel like home for The Sleepy Time Gal blog.  We’re getting there. BTW, right now you can click on the title of a post and it will open it and include any photos.  We’re in the process of fixing that bug.

See ya’ll back tomorrow!

the sleepy time gal

Happy Mother’s Day this Sunday to you mothers, mothers-to-be, mothers-in-the-making, and mothers that make the world go round.

Sincerely,

the sleepy time gal

My kids love their hammer/nail set almost as much as I did when I was little and I would play with my mother’s worn-out set.

I was always thrilled that I got to play with miniature nails.  My mom’s set from the 50′s came with a little metal hammer and similar wooden pieces.  I would ask my mom to pull it down from the closet on hot, summer days when I was too hot to play outside.  I’d sit at the kitchen table hammering away while mom worked in the kitchen.

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At night I come upstairs to a particular book on my night stand.  It is called Forgiving Ourselves: Getting Back Up When We Let Ourselves Down  by Wendy Ulrich.  It is usually calling to me by the end of the day because I carry guilt so well and rarely let myself off the hook.

Maybe you’re like me, or maybe you are not, yet I find that women tend to be the hardest and least forgiving to themselves after all they do and try to do and set out to do.  It is a shame that it happens, and yet, it happens and regularly.  Lately, I’ve been taking some baby steps to get out of the rut.  One thing I’ve started is a peace journal.

A few years ago I discovered the book Tidy Up!  in one of the Montessori catalogs I get in the mail.  It was added to our book collection when I bought some children-sized yard tools (I think they were these).

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maintaining…

order where there is order (my kitchen) and establishing order where it lacks (currently, the art room– as always) throughout my house.  Isn’t this a daily, monthly, yearly task for all of us?  And as we’ve all learned, as soon as you let it slip, you’re fighting to get it back.

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It was totally random.

We had lemons.  It was hot.  And the entrepreneurial spirit was burning within them when I mentioned to the girls that they could keep the money they made.

We quadrupled the lemonade we originally had just made for us.  The table set up, chairs, ice-cold, freshly squeezed lemonade, and a money bowl.  They were set. I knew one little detail they did not. We were conveniently ready for customers about 5 minutes before the public school kids came down the street.  How convenient.  

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