Five Ideas on a September Eve

1.  Lazy Girl Iced Tea ~ I love to drink iced tea.  So refreshing.  But sometimes I get tired of brewing a pitcher full every few days.  So I took a short cut one day, and found it works pretty decently.  I put a tea bag in a glass of cold water and let it sit 20 minutes.

Voila!  My berry flavored green tea infused into the water, and was tasty, even if not quite as strong as if I'd brewed it.  I leave that tea bag hanging out in my glass all day, and just refill it with water.  The berry flavor infuses the water and gives me a tasty drink all day long.  :)

2.  Put people on your weekly To-Do list ~ I'm naturally very project oriented, so on my weekly to do list, I add chores, meals, errands, and projects.  Lately I've been realizing that I have  people I want to connect with, but they get lost so easily lost in the shuffle of my projects.  So now I'm adding people to my list, and it's making a difference.  People matter so much more than projects, so this is helping me to remember to build time into my week for letters, texts, emails, and visits.

3.  Crafting with cans ~ In November I will be having a booth in my very first craft show!  I'm excited as well as anxious, hoping I can have plenty of items made and ready for the big day, along with filling Etsy orders.  I'm experimenting with some new products for the show.  These upcycled tin cans were fun to put together.  I have quite a few decorated cans that I use in my crafting...they hold paint brushes, pens and scissors, etc.  I'll be making lots of these to sell this fall, and some will even have their tin lids with little knobs on top and can function as a gift holder for wrapped candies and more!

5.  Writing letters to my little Grands ~ Living long distance from my 3 (soon to be 4!) little grandgirl and grandboys means I have to be creative in finding ways to connect with them.  We usually Face Time, which is GREAT!  But one week I decided to mail them letters.  I added pictures to the letters, so they could help Mom read it.  Please forgive my amateur drawings...my grands certainly did.  :)

I hear that 3 year old Carson has his hanging on his bedroom wall, and wants to turn it over periodically so the pictures on the other side can be seen.  :)

Notice I employed some Ed Emberley books to help me with some simple drawings.  :)  The internet also helped me with some simple drawings to copy.

Eloise loves my stuffed Charlie Brown, so he usually travels with me when I go to visit her.  She's already put in her order of things Mimi should bring when baby brother is born. :)

Thank you for stopping by! 

Blessings,

Donna

Five Favorites

1.  Sauteed Okra ~ I'm a southern girl who grew up eating fried okra.  Delish!  But alot of trouble and probably too greasy for me today.  But after reading that you can grill okra and it's delicious and non-slimy, I decided to try sauteeing it.  I left it whole, used minimal oil, and in just a couple of minutes it was done and soooo good!  Looking forward to the next batch of okra I pick from my little garden!

2.  My evening walks include this little lake in the neighborhood.  Loved the sky this particular night.

3.  Boy Doll ~ Our only granddaughter, Eloise, is getting a baby brother this Fall!  She is such a good mommy to her dollies, and spends lots of time tucking them in for naps, I asked her Mama if I could look for her a baby boy doll for her for when brother arrives.  It took some doing, but I found this sweet, soft little boy doll...he's so huggable!

I made him a knit blanket and put him in the mail this week.  Her Mama will save him for when she goes to the hospital for the birth.  I hope this little doll will help her with the adjustment of a new baby in the family.  I know she will feed him, doctor him, and tuck him in for lots of naps while singing "You Are My Sunshine."  I think she will love that he has a paci.  :)

4.  New Paints ~ As I have taken some watercolor painting lessons, (and have tons of practicing to do to be able to not giggle at my attempts,) I decided to buy the paint set the teacher recommends.  

Winsor & Newton's student set of paints only set me back $15 with a coupon for the art store in town, and I'm already a big fan.  Making the color chart above with the paints, I can already tell that the pigment is much richer than the set I was using.  When these little paint cakes get used up, I can buy tubes of that color and refill the pans, which will dry into cakes.  

This little whimsical bird was my latest attempt, with my old paints.  Yes, you can giggle at him.  :)

It's a treat when I have a quiet afternoon and can pull out my paints and play.

5. Face Timing with Granddarlings ~ All of our little grands live about 6 hours away, so I'm very thankful for Face Time and Skype.  I  like to have some fun stuff set out to use during our video chats, as they love to see things at Mimi's house.  Face timing with Eloise yesterday was so fun as she loves my Charlie Brown.  I wrapped him in a blanket (like her dolls), had him snack on play food, and then we looked at my old Eloise Wilkens book about the little girl who gets a new doll and a new baby brother. Ellie made playdoh cakes and cookies to feed Charlie through the screen.  Sweet memories made over the distance.  

Thank you for stopping by today!  
Enjoy your last weeks of summer!

Blessings,
Donna

Being a Mimi Across the Miles

My husband and I had the joy of becoming Papa and Mimi to TWO little love bugs 2 years ago!  Our grandson, Carson, was born first, and then just 7 weeks later, our granddaughter Eloise was born!  Oh how we love and enjoy our precious little grands! But they both live 6 hours north of us, so we have to be creative in building our relationship with them in between visits.  Now that they are both two, I'm having alot of fun adding some 'friends' to our Face Time visits.  They both grin, reach out to try to touch them, and sometimes say, "Want it!  Hold it!"

Carson and Eloise love Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood on PBS.  Recently I went online and found some Daniel Tiger coloring sheets to print.  I colored the two main characters and cut them out.  Eloise was surprised when Daniel Tiger and Katarina Kitty came on the Face Time screen to say hi!  I made these little friends talk to her and play peek a boo with her.  Her grins were worth it all.  :)

Carson has taken a new liking to Caillou and his sister Rosie, another kids' show.  So I found Caillou and Rosie printable paper dolls online and had fun coloring and cutting them out.  Carson was pretty surprised the next time we did Face Time to see that Caillou and Rosie were at Mimi's house!  

I had planned to mail these little friends to the grands, but for now I'll keep them for our Face Time fun.  :)

Another fun way to connect long-distance is to make a short little video with your smart phone and send it by text or email to your grand's parents.  I have a Raggedy Ann and a stuffed Charlie Brown that often make appearances with me on videos to the kids.  I sing a song with Ann or Charlie and ask the kiddos to sing or clap with me.  Yes, I look a bit silly, but who cares!  The kids like it!  :)

So those are just a few ideas of ways to connect with your grandbabies long distance.  And have you read my post HERE about keeping a journal for your grands of the times you spend with them?  I'm having a ball writing down the cute things they say and do, as well as adding photos of our times together.

Do you have some fun ideas for building relationships with your long distance grand darlings?  We'd love to hear them!

Be Blessed,

Donna

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