mamaroots

How about a give-away or two?

Hello everyone- back from the holiday weekend and still in just complete simple happy harmony with family and the holidays- stress meter very low!  How you would you like a give-away on the cusp of the end of November and beginning of December?

First let's do some Herbal fun work!  I will be giving away the December Issue of Herbal Roots Zine- it is one of my most favorite spices/herbs- cinnamon!  The boys and I can't wait to see what Kristine has created for us in December!  Always such a wonderful treat to have Herbal Roots in our lives.  As we speak I am giving myself some herbal medicinal love tonight for a scratchy throat that wants to linger.

If you pop on over to check out Herbal Roots, Kristine is giving away a chance to win a mamaroots wood raccoon- so hurry on over there!

And well since it was give-away time of the month I also wanted to share a fun announcement with you and another give-away.  I have opened a second Etsy shop, it is just for antique and vintage treasures that I find and rescue out there.  

Announcing Resting Rabbit Antiques- the name, well it has kind of a spooky inspiration that I will share in another post but it is also fitting because rabbit is my animal spirit and what do I like to do when I am resting?  Read and hunt down antiques!  I just have a few things in the shop right now- all the St Nicholas shoes I could track down to my liking starting this summer that I just finished up refinishing back to their original state- do you have a St Nicholas shoe for your kiddo?

So I made up a wee little resting rabbit that I will also be giving away.  Wow- so that is alot of give-aways in one post:

Leave a comment here and get entered for Herbal Roots Zine for December and the Resting Rabbit.  Let me know what your favorite herb was from the past 2010 Herbal Roots year.  As always, bonus entries for following both myself and Kristine at our Facebook pages:

mamaroots

Herbal Roots Zine

The deadline on both of these will be midnight tomorrow night- I will draw 2 winners names on Wednesday morning.

Don't forget to go to Herbal Roots Zine to sign up for a chance to win Sage Raccoon!  Good luck!

Black Friday, no- Red Friday, okay Green Friday!

Hoping your holiday was joyful.  We enjoyed lots of family time!  I took the opportunity to step outside at my folks place and get my barefeet in the green grass one last time.  It might be the last before the spring!

 

I started Black Friday off bright and early by making it off Red- I donate platelets monthly at my local Red Cross.  They always snuggle me up, get me set up with a movie and munchies.  I don't mind needles at all and so I have found it to be a simple thing that I can do.  I have been donating for a couple years now.  

Our Friday then turned Green as we went to a local tree farm to seek out the lovely tree that would grace our home this year.  We found a lovely pine.  I have some fun ideas to share with you for holiday decorating all December!  And you know we made it almost the entire day without entering a store when we discovered one strand of lights was shot, so Jasper and I ran with a mission of just getting some lights for the tree and getting back home to finish it up before dinner.

Tomorrow I am hosting a toymaking workshop for friends as an alternative to shopping- not too shabby of a weekend I say!  Hope your weekend has been a full spectrum of colors too!

Holding Thanks

Many thanks and blessings to you and yours today- holding my thanks in my heart and hands to all of you!

thanks on the bench

Well, it is the night before Thanksgiving and the bread is baked (by my hubby of course!) and the boys spent the afternoon making gifties for my family tomorrow.  Silas made a tipi at school and learned to do some Indian code which inspired the boys further to make cards in code for everyone tomorrow- it took them most of the afternoon!  I am so thankful and inspired by their thoughts of making for others.

 

So on the old cobblers bench- that focal spot in our dining room was the tipi which Silas thought was just right for our turkey, and our thankful tree that we made this year inspired by the wonderful Cindy at Zach Aboard- we loved Zach's tree he made last year.  We made our leaves out of paper and are actually going to ceremonially burn them in our last chiminea fire to release our thanks to the universe.  

 

We also took time tonight not only to remember what we are thankful for, but also to decide what big way we wanted to help this holiday season.  The boys giving jars have been gathering over the past year and then mom and dad contribute.  We talked about Heifer and PET- whose has folks here in my town who help build the mobile devices.  We are hoping to have it narrowed down within the next week.

So many thankful thoughts fill my head tonight- family, friends, community, health, and just so much love.  In gratitude to you for visiting me here!  

break out your wands

You bet my friends- shortly after lunch on this fine Saturday I was taking in HP7 while the boys were at a birthday party.  This HP bookie gives the movie thumbs up!  I thought it was much more interesting than HP6 though of course it does not come close to the books.  And I am happy to report it is happening- Jasper and I are reading the series together.  You may remember my rule is that I want the boys to read the books before they see any of the movies and Jasper and I have been silent reading together.  Pretty magical indeed!  I came across this really fun Yahoo Group today as well that just so happens to combine two of my loves- crafting and Harry- yes, yes I will endulge!

And then there is this one thing that always stops me in my tracks- I am always under the spell of this beauty- that big ol orb in the sky, tonight it was just amazing!  

Here is to hoping your Saturday was magical too- now to settle in with a big cup of tea and some wee little toys that are begging to be worked on.  

tea parties for daughters and sons

Wanted to share a new book with you today that just came out this week.  I had ordered this a few months ago and was excited to share it with my boys.  It is a new picture book out by President Obama. I brought it home and set it on the trunk yesterday and it did not take long for the boys to wander over to it and dive in.

It is written as a series of short letters to his daughters.  Each page spread highlights an important historical figure in relation to a quality that he sees in his daughters.  First the illustrations are amazing and second,  I love the idea of seeing these historical figures imagined as children on the opposing page as well as an adult rendering.

We also loved reading it together as we are on the verge of one of our big American holidays next week. And you know what- I am so thankful!  I am thankful to be here, reading this with my sons.  Thankful for a president that honors books and reading and writing with our children.  Thankful for my own sons who are creative, brave, smart, healers, singers, strong, honoring, explorers, and part of this huge family called America.

I am thankful for a president that honors and reminds us that our children are our future, teach them about the past, and that we are all kinds- races, religions, and beliefs.  I am thankful that though I may not like what another person says or does, I have the power and freedom of choosing not to engage or to choose to discuss and learn from what they are saying and doing.

So with that we had our own tea party last night and took the time to absorb this new book and learn some more about the historical figures inside.  Just the other day Jasper was asking all about Einstein:

"was his brain really the biggest brain ever?"

"where is his brain now?"

"where was he born?"

You bet I am thankful for all those questions, they lead us onto fun paths!  Really there are pictures of Einstein's brain on-line!  Happy Friday everyone!

spin a good yarn

It just starts to happen, active weekends and daylights savings time creates Monday Teas in the winter. After full weekends I often feel the need to wind down after school with the boys on Monday with tea and learning time, stories or crafting.  Granted most afternoons they are playing hard and heavy with friends which I think is so valuable, but on Mondays it is mama tea time.

 Often I am not sure what we will even do, but this weekend the boys spent so much time creating traps in their rooms with balls of donated acrylic yarn.  They showed their buddies who did not seem too impressed with the yarn traps, but did ask to use the yarn to teach each other to finger knit.  Well that was all we needed yesterday.  After the friends went home, the hot water was on, the knitting tower found, and the book case scoured for stories dealing with yarn, we had some cozy yarn tea time.

Silas chose to draw pictures, mama read, and Jasper was very successful on his first yarn tower creation in the making.  It was definitely some good yarns spun indeed, which is on my list to learn to do sometime, and knit I think!

Here are some of the books we read that were fun with a yarn slant to them in some way!

Hide and Snake

Red Berry Wool

No Roses for Harry

The Mitten

The Weaver

Pelle's New Suit

 

Sharing

Wanted to share the name of the winner for the Lantern Child- thanks to the Random # generator, it is lucky #15- Melissa of Wild Faerie Caps- if you could send me your snail mail addy I will ship this little one out to you this week to enjoy!  Thank you to everyone so much for your kind words!  Don't forget if you want to make one of these the kit is available at Etsy, I am excited to try some of the other kits this winter.

I am also so thankful to a friend this weekend for sharing her knowledge of kombucha making with me.  She helped me get my first batch started- 1 gallon in the making and I am happy to report a film starting on the top that will be my loving mother culture and the wonderful aroma of vinegar happening!  Anyone else out there making kombucha? 

morning moment

Went outside this morning to greet the sunrise, the boys still asleep.  Birds talking, sky opening and finding the lanterns here and there outside.  Had to light one more up this morning to see its glow one more time! 

I am thinking this is going to become an annual tradition at our house- big thanks to our lovely friends for sharing our walk, sharing cider and bread, sharing story, and helping us carry the light through the upcoming winter months! 

almost

Almost ready for the Lantern Walk tomorrow night- crossing fingers the rain that came in tonight decides to give us a little break tomorrow night!

A photo montage of our preparations the past couple of days.

Lanterns Drying- had to try making the ballon lanterns this year!

Grains Gathered- you would think with dirty hands like those we harvested them himself!

Wheat ground- the boys ground 1 cup of the 6 needed for the bread- hard work they say!

Gifts prepared for friends- copies of The Lantern story and little wee packets of sunflower seeds from our garden sunflowers- a little something sunny to look forward to next summer!

Testing the lanterns: one antique, one recycled Peanut Butter jar from last year, one gourd, and one balloon.  Not sure if I will get to the Turnip Lantern or not!

A little give-away for you!

I am wishing all of you a magical Martinmas- may all of your sparks and flames carry you through the cold dark months ahead.  I have been making these little sweet lantern walkers this week for my own spark- my boys and the kit had one extra I wanted to share with you.  

Leave a comment between now and Saturday 11/13 at midnight to get entered- I will also include a little pack of our seeds too!  Extra bonus entry if you follow me on the mamaroots Facebook fan page too!  

Good luck and happy lantern walking!  In case you are wondering, the kit was super fun and I got it from this Etsy shop- so very fun!