Happy New Year!

My current read....Happy New Year to Me!

It's been quite some  time since my last post.  As the year came to a close, my list of to-do's multiplied exponentially!  My life was like a roller coaster out of control and it affected every second of my waking hours.  My husband and kiddos can attest to that and to the fact that my busyness affected every second of their waking hours too.  Of course, all the items on that to-do list were not all self imposed, but they made it to the list nonetheless.

Tuesday's Treasury List ~ Libraries!

I went back to work last week. It's been a great summer, but I sure did miss my library. I have the best job in the world!  Even though I work in an elementary school library, I thought I would see what Etsy has to offer in a search for public library creations. Here's a collection of what I found.

'Libraries!' by hartleyrowe

Library = My favorite place!

Library Day!

I went to the library today.  You know, one of those buildings ~ real, not virtual ~ where stack after stack of glorious books can be found.  Real books, not ebooks.  Truth is, I go to the library most every day.  But the library I usually go to is my workplace.  I love my job.  I'm surrounded by amazing books, children and the staff and teachers of the best elementary school in the world!  I am an elementary school librarian ~ my library is full of children's books.  But, there are those days, when I long to go to the library just for me.  And, today, I did just that.

Here's a picture of the great book I checked out today.  After reading only two pages, I'm sure I'll be up late tonight scouring the pages looking for new ideas to give wonderfully old reclaimed materials new life!

Now that you know how much I love libraries, I have to tell you what one of my favorite rooms in my house is.  It's my library, or course.  As a Navy family, we move often.  With each new house, comes a new library.  In some houses it is its own special room, just like we have now.  But in other houses, sometimes it consists of a special corner in a room that serves multiple purposes ~ or a combination of shelves in several rooms spread throughout the house.  But, regardless of how we store our thousand + books, wherever they dwell is always one of my favorite spots in the house.

I took a picture tonight (as you can tell from the quality, I can't wait to get a new camera!) of one of our library walls.  We have so many shelves and so many books.  We're currently living in a rental so we're limited to white walls as backdrops for most of our favorite pieces.  This makes me want to add as much character to all our pieces as I can.  Most of the valuable real estate in this shelving unit is taken up by books, but you will be able to see I've chosen two sections to house some of our vintage family items.  They have a prominent home and we see them every day.

                                                                                                                                                                                                     

The pictures above show those special things I mentioned. (I edited one in Picasa 3 giving it a vintage look, just for fun:)  Under the dome I have placed small pocket bibles from my grandfathers and great-grandfathers.  I also have sermon notes from my step-father's many beautiful sermons he delivered from his pulpit.  There's also several old books of poetry from my great-grandfather and a pair of antique glasses. To add a bit of color to the shelves, I chose our hand blown glass vase from Australia.  I love the unexpected bit of color.  And, lastly, is the canvas transfer photo I made of my aunt's husband during WWII.  He never made it back from the war, but I still feel like we've known him forever because of all the wonderful stories and pictures my aunt shares with us.  You can read more about them in my blog post here.

I'd love to hear about your own libraries...or better yet, see pictures.  Please let me know your storage secrets and design ideas for that special room in your house.

Have a great day,

~ Alison

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! ~ Tuesday Treasury List

'Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!' by hartleyrowe

Saturday, March 2, is Dr. Seuss' birthday. I thought I would create this treasury list to celebrate him and Read Across America Day!

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

Applesauce Season!

I must say, I love my day job!  I also love creating things for my Etsy shop as well, but there are just some weeks that I am reminded how much I truly love being an elementary school librarian.  Last week was one of those weeks.

I shared the book, Applesauce Season with my fourth graders last week.  I love this time of year and all the  memories it brings back of  harvest time as a young child.  I remember the bounty from our own garden and how much fun it was to pick all the vegetables and prepare them for canning and freezing.  But one of my fondest memories is applesauce-and-apple-butter season!  I loved sharing the book and tying in family traditions and seasonal celebrations in a nice perfect package with yummy applesauce as a bow on top.  It gave me the opportunity to share with my students some of my memories as a kiddo when all of my cousins would meet at my aunt's house to pick apples.  We would then proceed to my other aunt's house to take turns stirring the big cauldron of simmering apples.  We all played a vital role in turning out the season's perfect apple sauce and apple butter.  There are some books that just transport you back to another time in your life.   This books does just that for me.

Of course, at the end of the week, I had to make sure to cook up some applesauce just for us as well.  We have amazing farmers' markets in our area and I am always keen on buying an extra apple or two, just to watch them ripen to the perfect "applesauce" apple.  All week long, as I read the book, I couldn't wait for the weekend to arrive so I could whip up a batch of fresh applesauce for my youngest kiddo, Patrick...the only one still at home in the nest.  He loves apples. He has an organic gala apple every day in his lunch.  I just knew he would be happy to come downstairs to simmering applesauce on the stove for breakfast.  I took some pictures along the way to share.....I can almost smell the "long gone" applesauce as I post the pictures here for you to see.

Here is about half the batch of apples I used for the applesauce.

(I forgot to take a picture of the full amount!)

I love using our simple apple corer/slicer.  I just peel the slices after they have gone through.  I then simmer the apples with a bit of cider for a good while.  When they have simmered for a bit....

I add the brown sugar and cinnamon...not too much, but just enough to give it that special autumnal flavor.  I put almost as much cinnamon as sugar!

I then mash the apples with my grandmother's old potato masher.  I do think it's one of my most prized kitchen possessions!

 

Patrick and I are both vegan so we no longer add butter (I miss it so much) to our dishes.  But I did find a worthy substitute in this Earth Balance spread.  Don't use too much butter (or spread) ~ half a teaspoon for the entire batch is plenty.

  

The end result was perfect.  Patrick just finished off the leftovers tonight.  It was the first thing he had Saturday morning and the last thing he had Sunday night! 

Yum ~ Yum

We love applesauce!!