Clover Lane

Andrew made these in art class the other day and on a boring day off at home, made some more.  I was so surprised by the end result, after I saw him hard at work.  So simple and pretty.

He agreed to do a little tutorial for me.

You need six square sheets of white paper and a glue stick and scissors, and something to draw a straight line with.  We used some wooden popsicle sticks, but there are these things called rulers that work well also, if you can find one laying around. :)


Corner to corner and then again, fold the square sheet so it looks like this.

Draw lines with a pencil that look like this.  You want to start your line on the open side, not the folded size, and don't draw all the way to the end.


Cut on the lines.


When you unfold the paper it will look like this.


Keep going, flipping over each time, till all the ends of the triangles are glued.

Repeat with five more pieces of paper till you have six more. Glue them all together by one end like this:


Let it snow!

Who wouldn't want to wake up to this every morning?

Even when I don't get much sleep, or have a harried morning with the older kids, (no peanut butter in the jar, missing homework, "you must wear a coat" arguments) this little smiling face turns my day around.  I can feel my whole heart relax and fill up with love.  Forget the little stuff, love is where it's at. Corny, but true.

I haven't really ever made a photo book before, but I had this little idea in my head for awhile and finally had some time to do it.

I made Patrick an ABC book...just simple letters with one of my photos that start with that letter.  It's probably a little late for this age-wise, but it helps him with his sounds and he loves it.  And it helped me get the hang of whipping something like this together.  I am hooked!  (Much easier than my cookbook and so much less time-consuming!)

I chose a soft cover, 8x8 size, and made the cover page in Picasa.  (If interested, you can see my scrapbook tutorials on how to do that.)

I have been making batches of these like a crazy woman.  They are easy and so so so good.  And the best thing is that they don't cost $14 a dozen.  I bet they come in under $1.

This recipe is from AllRecipes and I use my Zojirushi Breadmaker...I love that thing.  The recipe makes about 8 bagels.  Last week I doubled it, and the bread maker handled it fine.

1 cup warm water
3 cups of bread flour
2 TBS white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
3 TBS sugar
1 TSP cornmeal
1 egg white

Toppings if wish:  shredded asiago cheese, poppy seeds, dried onion flakes, rock salt, cinnamon sugar...

1.  I add the first 5 ingredients in the order listed.  Set on Dough Cycle.  When complete, place dough on a lightly floured surface. Shape into 8-10 balls, flatten them, and then poke hole in the middle.  (Make it big, because dough will rise.)

2. Cover bagels with a clean dish towel, and let rise.  Mine take about 30-60 minutes to get rise.  Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil.  Dissolve 3 TBS of sugar in boiling water.


3. Sprinkle an ungreased cookie sheet with cornmeal.  Heat oven to 375.  Transfer bagels to boiling water.  (My pot holds about 4 at a time.)  Boil for 1 minute, turning halfway through.  Remove bagels and place on dish towel to drain.

4. Arrange boiled bagels on baking sheet. Glaze top with egg white.

My kids love asiago cheese bagels, so I will grate some of that and sprinkle on top.  They also love "everything" bagels:  I mix up some poppy seeds, dried onion flakes, and a teeny bit of coarse salt. I will dip the top of the bagel in the egg white, and then dip it in the "everything mixture".  We haven't tried cinnamon sugar yet, but I bet that would be good.

5. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

PS.  There is a little Print Friendly button down below.

I found this today after I ordered a bed to be made.  I am so glad I noticed this little tenderness-a teddy bear gently covered up, tucked in and peeking out.  Sometimes with all the hustle and bustle of the household I know I overlook these things- things like little acts of kindness I don't see, or hear.  Its easy to let the negative stuff get more attention-the job undone, the snippy remark, the unkind criticism, the toothpaste all over the counter.

But I learn this lesson again and again and again-noticing the good stuff gets me SO much farther.

Instead of scolding, praising.
Instead of harping, smiling.
Instead of being agitated, being grateful.
Instead of an angry tone, a gentle word.

It's nice to get back on a routine.  I love January-not the cold weather of course, but the quietness and the coziness in our warm home.  Here are some things that are keeping us busy: