Making Tea at work!

I am working this year and that’s mean making materials as well. That is the ugly and the fun part of my work! On the other hand I get to introduce whatever I want as long as it fits the pedagogy parameters. 

One of the staff members in our school has introduce tea making to this community. I fell in love with it and I wonder why? Well, some of you who knows me well; knows that I love tea so I guess it just worked for me. 

The flip side of this is I had to find everything, and then of course something is always missing and this teacher who was so nice and helpful offered one of her extra aprons for me. I know I owe her very much. I need to get my act together and sew some aprons soon. I will soon and I promise. Because she shared this awesome idea how to make them as well. I also feels like I am growing in this school. Learning, making, and presenting all happening at the same time. Makes me ten years younger!  We will just assume that for at least my sanity. 

I found this local thrift store thanks to my neighbor. It has been my life saver yes, literary it has been my life saver. I found all these at the thrift store and children has been in my room pouring, seeping, sipping, and repeating all these steps with joy!

I am seriously considering writing about this; how to make tea. I have become more of a herbal tea drinker. Which, I have come to love and enjoy. My next project will be how to make herbal tea at home. This was just one project I have assemble together at work. I am extremely happy with this one!  

The list consists of :
1 tea pot
2 small spoons one for serving sugar and the other for string 
1 small jar
1 small bowl
1 tray porcelen
2 place mats
2 napkin rings
2 cups
2 saucers
1 tray for carrying the tea pot if the child feels too warm
1 apron (others know the activity is not available for another)

Taking Care of classroom pet...

This school vacation we decided to pet sit. Nicolette was super excited to bring her classroom pet home, according to her she wanted to play dress up, and want to give Finn a bath. 

The ginuea pig is very active in the night as Niegel and I watched TV way into morning during one night. Finn decided to add the after effects of the scary movie, fun night turning light off after the movie. 

We have been adding Finns bedding to the compost, and offering him carrots. I am not sure, if I am confident enough to pick and handle him. However he is getting use to me more, since I am the only one taking care of his bedding besides Panduka.

I see he is venturing out from his house to see what is happening around him. He sure loves his carrots, and hey. We gave him a treat of parsley and he sure likes that. The more into the week I notice him playing outside of him home more. My allergies are bit off, but still worth the effort of taking care of Finn.

It is REALLY a fun way to take care of a pet!

Japanese Cooking...

This winter break we ventured into Japanese cooking, to stir away from the regular blah. I have been eating alot this winter, which I am not very fond of. I have been missing the gym but more into creating, sewing, and reading. 

Japanese cooking seems to be very easy and less time in the kitchen. However, the body really needs to go through the change of raw fish. I always likes soy beans even growing up in Sri Lanka. The most fondest memory I have is eating soy ice cream, which seems to close to my house.

Recently, I have add so much kale to my lunch, and I afraid I might turn my self to green. I still cook meat for the rest of the family members. They cannot totally give up on meat at least few are working on it. This is a something I put together, sticking to the basic Japanese cooking techniques. I used pork instead of beef, I felt it absorbs the sauces well than beef. I add a whole lot of vegetables to keep it more like a one pot meal. 

The base is soy sauce, plum sauce, garlic, chillies, honey, rice wine, and sesame oil. 

There are few similarities in Japanese cooking and Sri Lankan cooking, and even share few ingredients.   

Laundry...

Laundry is a such big job in our household, since I went back to work. However, today I really enjoyed doing laundry because, snowing outside made me sit next to iron board to do laundry. Nicolette, is having a bath and I could get few things done during this time. One thing for sure is laundry. 

Every window I look outside, all I could see is the snow covered ground and trees like a picture post card. 

February and LOVE...

February has already crawled upon us, and I am overdue for a new post. Yet, another storm embraces the North East. Having a day off adds, more to our creative list. However, I was adamant to get some rest in between. 

It is not fun to battle winter allergies. The dust mites are so high during this time of the year due to dry air. We have been cleaning and dusting throughout this winter as we go along. 

However, I curled up with little Nicolette, who is always looking ways to craft with me. We decided to cut some few felt squares, I had purchased previously for another project. She was very excited when I started to cut the hearts. 

I made this garland to add to our branch collection from our yard. I had few heart shape candle stick holders, a bag of gummy hearts, I could not resist to enjoy few of these gummy hearts. Few orchid candles, Together, we add a bit of love to our dinning room. 

Kitchen towels, you cannot have enough of these no matter what you do. I love to make kitchen towel and give them as gifts to friends.

I was in a mood to make few towels for us. When I saw this print, I knew I had to get it, because it was so cute! 

I have not finish the task of actually making them yet! I will soon post the finish project. 

Week night dinner...

Back to school means more time at work and at school. In other words less time prepping food more time with family as much as possible. How do you keep it together, answer is more planning less shopping. More meals to make at home, this works great because there is always leftover. 

Getting protein for a family of three and one vegetarian could be a challenge, because you do have to make sure the vegetarian get some form of protein as well. I am still working on my self getting protein. 

Past weekend I was able to gather four bags of meat with marinade for week nights, and hopefully we might consider something light in between these nights, that would accommodate the vegetarian with a healthy protein the entire family can enjoy more to come on this. 

This was a fairly simple project, which my teenager was able to help me to assemble it. Meat could be enjoy with bean rice and a salad. 

As we ran out of store bought marinate for a one batch of meat. We decided to come up with our own. We will let you know if it is family approved on a later post. 


It is a big relief to know dinner is all set for five nights!

Experimenting with remnants…

 

My love to the remnant rack at the fabric store never cease to surprise me. I made this scarf out of anti-phil fleece and cost me .75 cents. It keeps my neck warm on a very cold day. Not only that it adds that punch of color. 

I have made many neck warmers with remnants. This was unique because it was a very skinny strip of fleece and worked very well with my project. Getting use to my sewing machine with different fabrics could be so much fun! I love this project and might make few more as gifts! 

October

October brings so much to the table, I might say, I had much to do with September. Well, September went really fast busyness of schools, brings in adjusting to schedules but still making attempts to enjoy the last bit of Summer. That is exactly we have been trying to do enjoy the outside as much as we can. I still have a long to do list. I have two  flower beds to attend which includes digging out some beautiful summer annual bulbs. Three raised beds to clean and build one before frost. We will having total of four raised beds next summer. More canning and sprouting into exploring more new varites of vegetables with our kids!

Garden is still producing, during busy evening, when I pull the car over to park by the garden beds, I still see few bees humming by flowers. I bet they want to suck all the honey they want for winter. This reminds me of this coming spring I need to add at least one bug/bee house, this could be a winter project for me. Garden is getting ready to go dormant. My little garden has worked so hard and offered me an abundance of vegetables, my trips to the grocery store has been cut down significantly. 
This summer, our garden took an indirect step to teach me how to can. I have been busy canning my tomatoes and the summer abundance.

October, brings a nice cool breeze with a hint of chill in the air. I might take on few garden jobs this Columbus day weekend. By the way do you know two cities had been named after Christopher Columbus, One is in the state of Ohio, and the other is in the state of Georgia a FUN fact!

I have a long list I like to accomplish this long weekend. Since, I have been, not feeling under the weather. October, throws the allergy season as well with its spectacular leaf show!

Late summer garden - harvest

This years’s late summer crop has been giving us a bit of a joy with the magical butternut squash harvest. We are happy to be outside and watching some of our late summer crop. We still have not yet enjoy our butter beans. Now we know that we need to get them in the ground very early. I should mark my calendar on that event. Planting beans early.

We still have an awful lot of green tomatoes my guess is hopefully they will ripe before frost if not I may have to find few recipes to work with green tomatoes. Basis keeps giving up every day more new growth I need to start my lunch pasta salad before it is all gone. 

Butternut squash have been giving its harvest. I harvested my very first butternut squash this weekend.  It is possible that I might do a whole one entry on my butternut squash one of this days. 

Speaking of it I did harvest the tips of this beautiful vine.  In Sri Lanka, some people will cook pumpkin vines with dhal as a curry. I initially tried when my aunt made it at her house. 

I am very determined to make it happen. I did had a lot in my plate this last Sunday before the full swing of back to school. I will write a post on this lovely butternut squash vine and its harvest!

One Hour, Listening to Music, and Creating

Some who was close to me once asked how do I managed my time. Well, I wish I have more to say however, I try to relax, and get my work done as much as possible during mornings. I will work in the craft room for certain time just like I would work in my yard. Lately, I have created my playlist to last long just around an hour so I can get things done during that time while enjoying my favorite music. 

This is much more relaxing than using the timer. I know I need to wrap things up and move on to the next task. I find this way that I do not get bored and i can work on multiple projects. 

What works for me right now will not work for me when the school starts but I might tweak my schedule this year so i can spend more time creating and hanging around with my family!

My point is Music could help you to organize your work style when you are at home. In some occasions to motivate you as well. 

Working for myself...

 

This summer I am taking a break to take care of myself. I am also working for myself this Summer. I am already busy re- stocking my tiny Montessori Shop! I am planning to introduce couple of more new items this Fall and kind if excited about it. 

I have plan few fun quilting projects this Summer which I am really looking forward to. Knitting projects are over flowing which includes few cowls and hats for little Nicolette. 

The fabric stash is piling up and the garden is growing with beautiful flowers. I was able to cut some Hydrangeas to adorn my work table it was truly a welcoming sign towards creativity!

There are few sewing projects to be tackled making couple of dresses for Nicolette and some fun things for me, in the work pile. 

Enjoy!

Getting Ready for School...

My little girl was so eager to go to school. She was happy as a clam to face the first day of school. We are ALL going to school this year. My first day of work at school and my sons first day at high school.

Little Nicolette was eager to get in the car. She has a phase-in she will not be spending a whole day in school but few hours to get the idea what is happening at her school. I truly believe in Montessori but I have changed my style in teaching my daughter not the pushy parent I use to be. 

I want the learning to be a life long process that she is going to enjoy through out her life. I believe that Montessori education can lay that strong foundation through work. I have started the same process that I did with my son many years ago. I used to take him to work where I taught of course a Montessori school after ten years I am taking on the same task with delight.

Enjoy!

My morning commute...

I am a working mom from now on. Yes, I am doing it all. I am blessed to do what I do everyday. I cannot asks for more, life is a challenge but it is beautiful. I am happy to see people are employed and they are going to work in our troublesome economy. 

The morning commute is a great example. I have been working really hard to set up my classroom. I know at the end it is going to payoff well for children as well as for the teachers. 

There is no other way to get off the traffic but listen to the morning radio. Make mental notes about the todo lists at least right now since little Nicolette is at home. Soon she will be my passenger. 

Quote of the day “ Enjoy every minute you can"

Enjoy!