What's In My Teapot?

This last day of June is special, for we have finally come to the point of discovering who all has joined this month's reading challenge ... And you get to see what I planned for our giveaway!!! Ready? Here it is: Two pillows, all  ready and waiting  to go to a good home!!! I sewed them just yesterday  (with a little help from this tutorial ) and  while I am introducing them, let me tell you about a few features: Number one, they are four-way-pillows!!! In other words, I have designed them so that they can be displayed four different ways: 1. With the yellow chevron and the birds... 2. with the black print and the birds,,, 3. with the yellow chevron and the black print... 4. with both pillows showing the birds... And secondly, the pillow covers can be be removed from the pillow forms via a handy-dandy invisible zipper! This makes them very easy to take off for laundering, and also makes it so there really is no front or b...

What does the reward look like when you have reached your first weight-loss goal? SWEET... And what does it look like when you & your sister meet your goals at the same time and treat yourselves to a walk to the newest ice-cream shop in town? EVEN SWEETER!!!

There are two things I cannot even begin to imagine: walking for hours every day just to procure enough water for survival... being alone in the world and separated from all your family members... Both of these scenarios are played out in parallel stories in A Long Walk To Water , by Linda Sue Park. Based on a true story, this book is both vivid and moving, and while it may be written with a juvenile audience in mind, it certainly has a message worth reading for adults as well.  Reading about Salva brings this question to mind: how much can one human endure? Salva, a young boy in Southern Sudan, was in school one day when gunfire sounded nearby. It was rebel fighters, and the teacher sent his charges into bush and away from their homes, knowing that the rebels would be invading the villages. Salva fled into the bush and it would be years before he would see his family again. The hardships, losses and starvation that Salva endured while fleeing for his life ar...

What is so rare as a day in June? Summertime is officially here and I feel that I could drink and drink of it's loveliness and never tire of it! Bring on the bare feet and blooming flowers, the fresh produce and line-dried laundry, the blue skies over green grass. This is what we dreamed of back in February, after all, and I see no reason not to welcome it with open arms. These June days are so rare and fleeting, but I am also keenly aware that life with three young children is, too! Each summer sees them a little bigger, and one of these times they are no longer all going to fit in one small wading pool! With this in mind, we took advantage of today's quintessential summer day and filled our cup to overflowing! And while the modes of enjoying it were rather typical, and even mundane, enjoy it we did! There was laundry to hang out, our small postage-stamp of a garden...