What's up at the Treehouse?

Ponytails has been working (scooping ice cream) and parking-lot driving with Mr. Fixit.

The Apprentice has been working out of town and we haven't seen her much lately, but she's coming for a visit today.

Dollygirl Lydia has been working on trying to replace a worn-out swimsuit.  Which isn't easy.  Even in the summer. But she did finally find one so that she can go swimming with The Apprentice.

Mama Squirrel has been working on school stuff, both for the Treehouse and for online projects.  Today Mr. Fixit has promised to get the Fruit of Her Labours printed out (that means the school plan for the year).

Mr. Fixt, as usual, has been working on the things he works on. Recently that's included doing colour developing in the kitchen sink. Really, you can, or at least he can. Technology is wonderful.

 (Phone photo found here.)  (Car photo found here.)  (Camera photo found here.)

Back Yard Nature: Violets!

We are in the peak of violet season.

Photo of Taryn by Dollygirl.  Copyright 2014 Dewey's Treehouse.

Dollygirl's Nature Walk Photos

(From yesterday's nature walk)

Winterberry holly bush with berries.

All photos by Dollygirl. Copyright 2014 Dewey's Treehouse.

Linked from Nature Study Q&A and April Link-Up at Fisher Academy International.

Frugal Finds and Fixes: Learning Curves

Sometimes frugality means learning something new. Or taking a risk.

For the past few years we paid someone to figure out our income tax returns.  This year Mr. Fixit used free online software and did it himself.  Besides saving money, it made him feel that much smarter, once he figured out how the program worked.

Ponytails has a favourite embroidered sweater, but the ribbing at the neckline was separating from the rest. She asked Mama Squirrel to fix it.  Mama Squirrel said she had no idea how to do it without ruining the sweater, especially since the pulled-apart spot was on the front, very visible.  The sweater sat unmended. Ponytails reminded Mama Squirrel that she really, really liked that sweater, and she couldn't wear it at all with the collar coming off.  Mama Squirrel decided that there was nothing to lose by trying, and rounded up a needle and purple thread.  It worked!  The repair required two stages: I sewed it together with thread, tucking in all the rough edges; then I went back over it with fine yarn, as close to the main colour as I could find in the scrap bag.  There was what looked like a running stitch at the base of each rib of the collar, and without the extra yarn stitching it would have held together but the repair would have been more obvious, so that's why I did both. If you look really closely, you can see that the stitching and yarn is slightly different; but you'd have to be looking for it.  So Mama Squirrel learned something this week too.

Dollygirl also picked up a project that had lain dormant for quite awhile: a small stuffed doll about five inches tall, meant for a dollhouse, with clothes to be sewn separately.  She had cut out two dolls from the same pattern (one I bought in the 1980’s and had never actually sewn); we had sewn the bodies, arms and legs together, and then she tried to embroider a face on one but it sort of got away from her and she packed the whole thing away for a long time.  This week she pulled the dolls out, finished the face on the other one, got it stuffed and sewed on the hair; she's now working on the dress which is a bit challenging--it is small, but it has a few tucks and pleats. I am really proud of Dollygirl for not giving up on what seemed too hard at first.  (photo to come when the dress is done)

What else have we fixed and found?  The usual baking and cooking experiments, this week featuring cranberries since they were the only reasonably-priced frozen fruit.  Ponytails discovered that her favourite microwave-in-a-mug treat works just as well without the egg that the recipe calls for--always good to know.  Mama Squirrel also noticed that the next-size-up bag of sugar offers a decent saving over the size we usually buy--that sounds too simple to mention, but sometimes you do get into a rut and don't think about small changes.

Oh, and we have been appreciating a variety of frugal entertainment, from free lunchtime concerts (we brown-bagged our lunch) to old radio shows (we had never heard "I was a Communist for the FBI" before), and even some vintage sitcoms online.  We recently upgraded our Internet service (the provider offered extra online time as an incentive to stay), so that makes it more feasible to watch whole shows sometimes.  This week it's been The Partridge Family.  Never say I don't tell all.

Something Dollygirl made

What is it?  A stage, for Dollygirl's Doll-scars Awards Ceremony.  Mr. Snowman appears to be doing a sound check.

Frugal Finds and Fixes, Featuring Dollygirl

I think Dollygirl gets this week's Treehouse prize for frugal creativity and, well, a bit of luck here and there too.  Over the past while she has won several doll-related blog giveaways, which makes watching for the mail truck much more exciting.  She's received a free (girl-sized) t-shirt, buttons, and craft materials.

(Photo by Dollygirl)

 She found an awesome clearance-aisle deal (a dollar a pack) on several sets of small doll clothes that fit Only Hearts Club girls and others of about the 9-inch size.  (Official Only Hearts Club clothes run about $20 an outfit, which is why Dollygirl's 9-inchers have so few clothes.  I don't like sewing for small dolls much either.).

She also searched online for the doll hairstyling kit that we couldn't locate for her at Christmas, found it on a Canadian website for a very reasonable price, and ordered it; she's still waiting for that one (there are supply issues, which is why the store here didn't get them in either).  She has been working really hard earning extra money this week, shoveling a vacationing neighbour's snow...I mean, really, REALLY hard.  .

(CTV News photo)

Also, in the past week or so, she has built a doll sewing machine from Lego, a fabric-draped stage and other necessities for a doll awards show (an idea she had for a blog story), made a pair of bead earrings (for herself, not the dolls), and used a gift of fabric to make a very cute mini bed.

As for the rest of us...well, sometimes frugal is just deciding not to replace what's no longer needed: in this case, an answering machine that suddenly started misbehaving.  It used to be a necessity; now, not so much. We could have gotten message service added to our phone line, but again, it's not worth it for the few callers who can't email us or don't have Mr. Fixit's cell phone number.  The last message we got on the machine was a very confused telemarketer (which is what alerted us to the fact that it wasn't delivering our we'll-call-you-back properly).

We've done some of the usual baking--muffins, oatmeal raisin cookies--and made some fairly frugal meals like turkey-pasta casserole, Polish wieners with sauerkraut, and bean soup.  We've used the dryer a lot less this week. I've re-read Liss Burnell's 2012 grocery guide (free book still on my e-reader).

And Mr Fixit and Ponytails each got a needed pair of running shoes at a buy-one-get-one event, plus Ponytails has a student price card that gives her an extra discount at that shoe store.

How was your week?

Some things we did over the holidays

1.  The Squirrelings came up with some creative and appreciated (and unique!) Christmas presents, including a framed photograph of our lilac bush from Ponytails, a pair of earrings made by Dollygirl but commissioned and given to Mama Squirrel by Mr. Fixit, and a copy of The Apprentice's class "coffee table book"--each science student contributed one chapter.

2.  The chocolate-orange Christmas cake turned out all right, in spite of the bottom layer's threatening to collapse.  We just put extra glaze on it to kind of glue it together, and extra fruit on top.  Mama Squirrel was quite a lot worried that the cake might collapse into a pile of chocolate and oranges by dinner time, but it held up and nobody laughed too much.

3.  We've been watching the first season of The Bionic Woman, the original series.  Dollygirl got the DVDs for Christmas.

4.  We spent a Saturday morning together downtown, checking out thrift stores and eating snacks at the "hemp cafe."

5.  We clipped branches and toted part of Yet Another Backyard Tree (this has not been a good year for Backyard Trees) to a safe place across the road, after the Very Large Ice Storm.

6.  We watched a famous person muff the words to "Auld Lang Syne" at midnight on New Year's Eve.

7.  Four of us went to see Frozen, on New Year's Day.

7b.  Funniest thing besides the movie: two kids sitting beside me.  The cinema manager came in to say they had sold out the theatre and would everybody please move closer to the center to free up extra seats.  Little girl:  "What did he mean, they just sold the theater?"  Same little girl, several times during the movie, "I love this part.  I love this part."  (How many times had she seen it already?)  Same little girl: "This part is scary. Give me some more Smarties."

8.  We just about got Frozen getting back to the car.  It's gotten very, very cold.  So cold the salt on the roads won't melt the ice.

How was your holiday?

Frugal Finds and Fixes: Crocheting, Bread Machine, and More

There has been a lot of crafting going on at the Treehouse.  Dollygirl made a pipecleaner-and-bead version of the heroine of Frozen (she's now working on the sister), did some beading with beads that have been sitting around for probably a decade,  and crocheted a few more dolly things that I've lost track of.  Dollygirl also won a t-shirt in a photo contest.

I keep coming across neat little patterns, some of which take only bits and pieces.  I crocheted some bookmarks with red, white and green worsted-weight yarn, and decorated them with Mini Wishing Star motifs.  I am trying out this double-sole slipper pattern on the Red Heart site (I did have to buy a ball of SuperSaver for that).  I like the little flower decorations that are supposed to trim the slippers; if you don't want slippers you could just make the flowers and sew them on something else.  I also like Planet June's Mini Wreath Ornament, which would be a terrific small project for young or new crocheters, and which could use up scraps of green yarn.

Dollygirl sent me the link to this crocheted doll hat pattern, so I made one with leftover multicoloured SuperSaver.

On the food end, I tried Budget101's Garlic Bread Mix for our (yard-saled) bread machine.  It flattened out at the top, which may mean there was a bit too much liquid, but the rest of the loaf was fine.  I cut it in square chunks, rather than trying for thin slices, and we had it with a spaghetti dinner.  It's a good make-ahead, less-messy alternative to toasting things with garlic butter.  Budget101 also gives directions for converting bread machine recipes to no-bread-machine recipes.

I wanted to make some Christmas cookies, but most of our usual recipes call for a lot of butter, and we're very short on that right now.  So I made a bowlful of brownie batter (using oil) and baked it as round cookies, with crushed candy canes sprinkled on top, and powdered-sugar glaze swirled on afterwards.  The candy could have been added after baking, sprinkled on top of the glaze, but it's good baked on as well.

Christmas cookies, candy canes, and penny jars

In the oven:  a double batch of Doreen Perry's Cookies, made with Rice Krispies, one cup of dark chocolate chips, and one cup of red, white and green holiday chips.

On the ground:  no snow.

On the kitchen table:  a jar of pennies, nickels and dimes, and another jar that's filling up gradually.  Secret Saints (or Secret Santas) are trying to not get caught doing good...but you're allowed to mark your good deeds with a donation to the jar.  (One-cent coins were supposed to be finished in Canada, but...like six-foot men and quarter-inch drill bits, we still seem to have an awful lot of them.)

On the radio:  something about everybody hanging candy canes by windows  I don't do that--do you?  (Dollygirl would say she just wants to eat them.  Candy canes are one of those  things that we hold off on until closer to Christmas.)

In which we finish the fall term (Dollygirl's Grade Seven)

So how's it gong, Dollygirl?  Highs and lows?  Favourite subjects or books?  "Lord of the Rings, Balance Benders, handicrafts, and The Bronze Bow, most of it.  Geography is okay."

Not as good?  "Grammar, French, math except for Balance Benders."

What would you like to do more of?  "Algebra.  Arithmecode puzzles. Writing stories."

Today's school plans:

Poems (each one choose one)

Music history: "The Beginnings of Opera and the Rise of Instrumental Music."  "The time had come to link up music a good deal more closely with human affairs--human characters, moods, stories, situations--and to cause music to be an expression rather than merely a design.  Music moved towards plays and stories, and the result was the 'new music': the twin forms of opera and oratorio." (John Russell, A History of Music for Young People)

Play nature card game

Algebra: continue lesson on signed numbers, using TheMathPage.com

The Sword and the Circle (Rosemary Sutcliff)

Apologia General Science:  review physical and chemical weathering, read about erosion

Exam practice (written narrations)

Return of the King (continuing into next term)

Frugal finds and fixes (and family stuff) (Now with Photos)

Recent frugal finds and fixes:

You know those fancy, fur-trimmed, ear-flapping trapper hats that seem to be popping up in the knitting magazines and everywhere else?  Dolllygirl found some on the weekend at the dollar store, for just a couple of dollars.  She picked out one in houndstooth, much just like the photo above.

Dollygirl has been making a lot of small doll clothes from scraps, and crocheting scarves for the same small dolls.

Mr. Fixit turned an unrestorable radio into a guitar amp. (Actually you can still play the radio too.)

Mama Squirrel made lentil-sausage soup from a smoked sausage and pantry stuff, and we got two meals out of it.  We've also made some of the usual stuff like bread in the bread machine, popcorn in the air popper, and chili in the slow cooker.

Dollygirl found a good sweatshirt tucked away that one of the older girls had worn.

The Apprentice showed us a free online site that teaches kids computer coding.  She and Dollygirl did some work on it this weekend while she was home.  We're also using free algebra lessons from TheMathPage.com.

Mr. Fixit scavenged a vintage kitchen table from the neighbour's curb. The top is ruined but that's okay, he wanted it for the workshop. Actually Mama Squirrel and the Apprentice were the ones who carried it across the street, after getting a phone call from Mr. Fixit who had seen it on his way past but couldn't stop to pick it up.  We portaged it around the house and left it on the patio.  By the time Mr. Fixit came back a short time later, it was covered with snow.  The Apprentice was here for the weekend and was supposed to go back to university last night, but the roads last night were so bad that she drove a few blocks, gave up and came back.  She left early this morning instead.

We went to three free lunchtime concerts this fall, and took bag lunches.

We borrowed several DVDs from the library.  And listened to the radio a lot.

If you click on the "family keep out" Christmas page, you might get a hint of how Mama Squirrel is using some squirreled-away stuff.  But my favourite found thing right now is the Dayrunner I got at a rummage sale a month ago.  I got some extra pages and stuff for it when we were out shopping, and I now feel completely organized and purposeful.  I stuck in a pocket to hold shopping lists and another one for church bulletins.

And Ponytails found a pomegranate-pink planner on the weekend, while we were grocery shopping.  There, I got everybody in.

Countdown to School: Interview with Dollygirl

Today we interview Dollygirl, who will be starting Grade 7 in September.  Please note that I did not censor her comments about math class!  Well, it's a new school year, Dollygirl...

(The interview questions are from Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classrom, by Susan Winebrenner.)

Imagine that you're going to take a trip to another planet or solar system.  You'll be gone for 15 years.  List 10 things you will take with you to do in your spare time. 

1. Kit Kittredge (American Girl doll)

2. Samantha Parkington (American Girl doll)

3. My iPod Touch

4. Pencil

5. Sketch book

6. A dog

7. A laptop

8. A book

9. Another book

10. And another book :)

I'm assuming that you can't bring people.

What are your favourite magazines or Web sites? 

I like the American Girl magazine, and National Geographic Kids. And for websites I like Doll Diaries, Blogger, Club Penguin, Webkinz, Bearville, and a lot more!

What is your favourite activity or subject at school?  Your least favourite?  Why?

 I love reading. But I hate math. Math is so boring, too hard, and too confusing. I love reading because I'm a bookworm! :)

Imagine that someday you will write a book.  What do you think it will be about? 

Dolls coming to life and saying I'm their leader!

Describe some things that would be present in a perfect world.   

Everything would be free. And better quality. 

Describe an invention you would create to make the world a better place. 

A new doll!

What questions do you think I should ask you that I haven't already asked? 

DOLL TRIVIA!

Thanks, Dollygirl!

(Bookworm Bug image found here.)

It's a good day in the Treehouse (updated)

This day is turning into a busy one for the Squirrel family.

Ponytails is on her way to a field trip at the Toronto Zoo, with her high school photography class.  (She's very happy that the sun is shining now, because there were thunderstorms all night.) When she gets back, it's guitar lesson night.

And since the sun is shining, that would be a good hint to Mama Squirrel to get a couple loads of laundry done and hung up outside.

The Apprentice is at work until after lunch, and then she has an extremely important driving test.  Mr. Fixit is going along for moral support.

Dollygirl has school with Mama Squirrel, and then later this afternoon she starts a flower-watering/checking mail job for some vacationing neighbours.  It's also our afternoon to work at the thrift store.

And Mama Squirrel has a support group business meeting here tonight.  Which means a small amount of cleanup and refreshment-fixing and all that, in between school and the rest.

These are all good things!  (Well, except maybe for the driving test, but passing the driving test is a good thing. UPDATE:  and she did!)

One of our pastor's favourite sayings is "it's a good day."  No qualifiers or additions--it's just a good day.

Frugality, second (or third) generation (updated with photos)

Our Dollygirl was recently given a Samantha doll by her Grandpa Squirrel.  Samantha is a "retired" American Girl doll, so she was acquired through E-bay.  She is in very good condition and is missing only her shoes.  Samantha, if you're not up on your American Girls, is a well-off eleven-year old from 1904.  Dollygirl wanted her to feel at home, so to speak.

We found out that Samantha was coming last Sunday night.  By the time the package arrived on Tuesday, Dollygirl had already carved out an extra doll-space in her room, made a bed from a box, and contrived some Edwardian-inspired bedding.  

She had previously borrowed a pair of pajamas from her doll-playing friends around the corner, so Mama Squirrel's nightwear services were not required.  In fact, this is one doll setup that Dollygirl has managed almost completely on her own.  (We do have the free downloaded patterns for "Samantha's Pretty Clothes.")

Samantha's homemade bedroom furniture includes not only the bed but a washstand (also from a box) with a Mylar mirror, and a nightstand from a plastic container.

She also has a small (real) copy of The Wizard of Oz (Dollygirl says it's Samantha's favourite book), a Madame Alexander Oz doll (McDonald's giveaway), a sewing basket with an embroidery project that we scavenged from a Little Women treasure chest, and some mini paper dolls (same).  Dollygirl made her a lunch basket with a plastic peach, a Sculpey roll, and a cookie (all things she had already), and she's working on some school supplies.

All without having to so much as shake Dollygirl's piggy bank.  Or ours. (The Springfield doll line, at Michael's, apparently includes some plain black shoes that should fit Samantha's feet, and that shouldn't set us back much.)

I am very proud of my next-generation frugal-hacker.


Linked from Festival of Frugality #388 at The Frugal Toad.

Frugalities, and what's for supper

1.  What's for supper? 

A layered casserole made from leftover smoked sausage, leftover cooked barley, chicken broth, celery, mushrooms, and mini potatoes that the Apprentice donated (she brought some of her groceries here).  I cut the potatoes in half, although they were already pretty small; put them on top of the other ingredients; drizzled a bit of olive oil on them; and sprinkled on some thyme.  The potatoes were done by the time the rest was heated through.

Spinach salad with carrots and chow mein noodles

Dessert made from graham crackers, yogurt, frozen blueberries, and a bit of leftover fruit crisp.

2.  Things to make:  I crocheted two doll-sized hairbows and a girl-sized one, after Dollygirl noticed this link on Doll Diaries today.  These are very, very, very easy and fast.  No shaping--you just make rectangles and then cinch them in the middle with yarn.

3.  I downloaded Best Hikes and Walks in Ontario, free right now for Kindle.

4.  Free for the looking:  pink magnolia blossoms on our backyard tree.  Like these ones.  Last year the magnolia blossoms all got killed by a hard frost, along with the apple blossoms.  I've heard that this is supposed to be a good apple year, so maybe the magnolia will stay beautiful as well.

Some doll photos that never got posted here

Well, they did get posted here--but it was back in December, on a separate page, when I was working on Dollygirl's Christmas presents (reviving a somewhat-lacking 18-inch American Girl, and putting together a doll baking kit).

What's up in the Treehouse? (A Snowie Day) (updated)

(Words to the poem are here)

If you didn't get the hint from the Loreena McKennitt video and the Lampman poem, it's a snow day here as well as in many other places.  And it's not just snow on the ground: that stuff is still coming down.

So Ponytails doesn't have high school, and none of the rest of us had plans to go anywhere this morning.  The Apprentice is at her university, which is also closed because of snow.

Mr. Fixit's surgery was a month ago tomorrow, and while he hasn't had any complications, it's taken him the whole month to start feeling like his insides (and outsides) are getting back to normal.

Mama Squirrel is happy because the very-hard-to-find Children of the Fox arrived at the library this week, and now we get to read it. (Kirkus review here.)

Highlights of our various school weeks:

The Apprentice helped dissect a brain.  She says that it's amazing that that thing can be inside a human head.

Ponytails started her new semester.  She has classes in English, math, Canadian history (all required credits), and photography.  The English class will be studying Life of Pi, Romeo and Juliet, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Dollygirl helped clean, solder, and paint a radio, and discovered that she is amazing at making tissue-paper flowers.  (Photo to come.)

Things to do on a Snow Day:  Dollygirl's private-schooled friend came over so that they could "do homework" together. I gave Dollygirl some extra math pages to do, and she helped quiz her friend with some French work. After making (and eating) some microwave S'mores, they put all their snow things back on and headed to the friend's house to play in a sort of igloo they are building in her back yard. Dollygirl is staying for supper, which is probably a good thing since she can stay put there for awhile, and it's still snowing and blowing.

Dollygirl's Grade Six: School for Thursday

What did we do for school on the 31st?

Started with Proverbs 31, since you hardly ever get a month with 31 days!

Chapter Two of Crystal Mountain.

Augustus Caesar's World:  "Antony and Cleopatra."  Wow, this is some storytelling!  Right down to how much Cleopatra admired Mark Antony's muscles.  Not sure which historian Ms. Foster drew that from.  Anyway, Dollygirl appeared to enjoy it, and she used toys and props to dramatize the chapter afterwards.  I noticed that she included a lot of little details from the chapter, such as Cleopatra's slaves waking her up the morning after her first "dinner date" with Mark Antony, and the fact that she was in an unusually buoyant mood.  Dollygirl had her Cleopatra wake up singing about "spring is coming," something that's understandable around here on dark, wet days...spring can't come too fast.

Archimedes and the Door of Science:  the second half of the chapter on "King Hiero's Crown."  This part of the chapter was about water displacement, and we did the suggested experiment using big and small containers, a wooden block, and a kitchen scale. Also, Mr. Fixit showed Dollygirl his automotive hydrometer (also called a hygrometer), and told her a story about a friend of his who bought a used car when they were in high school.  Mr. Fixit suggested that they should check the antifreeze, and offered his hydrometer, but his friend shrugged it off.  When the weather froze--so did the engine.  Oops.

Key to Decimals:  Just one word problem, about sports averages.

Favourite things at Christmas

A Tom Thomson print that Mr. Fixit found on his antiquing rounds; we put it up by the front door.

Rold Gold Peppermint Dipped Snowflake Pretzels (they make a great Christmas breakfast with muffins and clementines)

Christmas cards from friends at church

A new frying pan, new socks, new bottle of lotion, and other things I've run out of

Our Advent wreath

Having enough tissue paper and tape to wrap everything

Homemade cranberry sauce

A jar of Mod Podge and a colour printer (couldn't have done this year's gifts without those).

Dollygirl's Christmas wish:  an American Girl doll.

A furnace that's made its way through another year.

And nothing worse than head colds this week.

Thrift store Wednesdays: purple, pink, peach, and P&P

Found at the thrift store today:

One purple t-shirt for Mama Squirrel

One peach pillowcase to make a Jo Doll (I was serious about making one!)

One pair of pink pillowcases, because I wasn't sure if one pillowcase was going to be enough fabric

One Scholastic book, possibly to re-sell

One set of Pride and Prejudice videos, for Ponytails.

The big pile of books has suddenly been reduced to a few boxes of fiction, so I spent most of the afternoon just filling the store shelves from what we had ready to go in the back.  Dollygirl found a chair and some other small dolly things.