The Intentional Thrifter: Winter is coming

Last week I shuffled a few things out of my closet and back to the thrift store. The had-pity-on-it-for-$2.50 purple suede skirt: it was just too heavy, literally. Last winter's grey cardigan: also too heavy for the places I find myself, and I've discovered I like sweaters a bit shorter and with more shape. A top that was too tight, a couple of other things that weren't working...back where they came from.

In return I picked out a grey wool midi skirt (all my other skirts are short). Wool skirts don't come my way often, so I'm happy about that. It makes me feel Charlotte-Mason-approved.

I also found a cardigan and a sort-of-houndstooth blazer, after my most recent thrift shift. The cardigan was sorted with the "outerwear," but it's just medium-heavy. It buttons only at the bottom, giving it some drape and shape.

 I added a extra hook and eye to close it near the top.

There are no labels in it at all, so its story is a mystery.

I noticed the blazer earlier, but was going to give it a pass because I thought it was too long. Then I ran into a friend who happened to be shopping, and she said, "Hey! I saw a jacket over there that you should try on." (I have helpful friends.) So I did, and it came home. I snipped out its yucky bare-foam shoulder pads, and it's good otherwise.

Here it is with a top and leggings.

With a grey dress and scarf:

And with a sweater dress.

So: six out, three in. Ready for winter.

Sunrise, from the balcony

Quote for the day: Which do you think?

"He wondered whether the inveterate reader runs for a book when it snows, or if snow itself is entertainment enough." ~~ Jan Karon, Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good

When morning gilds the skies (Solstice Sunrise)

View from the balcony (cloud photos)

Sunrise, with snow (photo)

You know you're living in an apartment..

...when the true sign of winter arriving is the addition of snow matting in the elevators.

Twenty-four hours

Yesterday's weather.

Today's weather.

Enough said?

"All I want for Christmas is some snow..."

Why I didn't bake or crochet anything today (Do-Vember #7) (UPDATE: Link fixed)

Do-Vember

Did I mention that some of my Pinterest interest has to do with clothes? I don't exactly have a mood board, but I do have some pictures pinned of colours I like, boots I could imagine wearing, and so on.

I wasn't going to post any changes this winter to my Project 333 list, but a five-dollar trip to the thrift store made me re-think the plan for the next three months. Here it is. (LINK FIXED)

And now that that's settled, I will get back to searching through the more crafty, I-have-to-try-that side of Pinterest.

(If you want to know why we went back to the thrift store, Mr. Fixit decided to put a bid in for that old television set.)

The Sun is Out

Spring is on the way; it's up to 3 degrees (Celsius), sunny, and it's supposed to be warmer tomorrow.

Maybe I will even have a snow-half-gone photo to put at the top of the blog.

Book of Firsts: Chickadee is calling

A February thing to watch for, around here (if you don't live in the land of fresh basil and tomatoes): when I went out to get the morning paper, I heard one chickadee doing his hurry-up-spring carol.

Things I'm doing today

Re-reading Karen Glass's book Consider This. I have had this in e-book for awhile, but recently acquired a hard copy.

Shoveling snow.

Folding laundry.

Marking math.

Serving leftovers.

Snow day on Groundhog's Day...but not if you're homeschooling

See the photo at the top of the blog today? Taken out the window early this morning (the orange blobs are street lights). All the schools are closed here...except for Lydia's Homeschool Academy.

Frosty sparkling morning, school plans (Lydia's Grade Eight)

"It reaches to the fence, 
  It wraps it rail by rail 
  Till it is lost in fleeces;  
It deals celestial veil....  

    It ruffles wrists of posts  
  As ankles of a queen,  
Then stills its artisans like ghosts,  
Denying they have been."  
~~ Emily Dickinson

Today's school plans:

Opening time: January's hymn.

Read aloud together:  How to Read a Book.

Bible, History, Science readings

Math (working in Key to Algebra this week, using the booklet on Graphing)

Composition and Grammar: work on The Roar on the Other Side

Latin lesson: Lesson 4, Day 3 (we are going through these lessons pretty quickly, and finding Lydia does remember quite a lot from four years ago)

Reading together:  The Merchant of Venice
Keeping a Nature Journal (nature notebooking)

Nature in our back yard, and a lot of others right now

Gray or speckled snow mold, proper name Typhula Blight.  (Or mould. Canadians can't decide how to spell that one.)  It's a mycelium that appears when the snow's been on the ground too long.  It's showing on a lot of lawns right now, as the snow disappears.

It's sort of pretty, in a weird, Spanish-moss sort of way.  It doesn't kill the grass, just damages the blades (and then hides for the summer).

Are you seeing this where you live?

(Photo found here)

Snow Day Books Quiz (Reposted from 2007)

If you're looking for something to do, I've re-posted a snowed-in books quiz that we posted several years ago as part of a Carnival of Homeschooling.   (The photos are also from that post.)  Here are eleven cold and snowy excerpts from children's books--without authors or titles. Can you name the books? Answers are posted here.

Here we go:

"O ye Frost and Cold, bless ye the Lord, praise Him, and magnify Him for ever," sang Will, reflecting that Mr Beaumont had shown a certain wry humour in choosing the canticle. "O ye Ice and Snow, bless ye the Lord, praise Him, and magnify Him for ever." (1)

“Hush now, lad,” said Aunt Nan.
“You will have to wait until spring.
Nothing can get over
the mountains now, not even the mail.”
“No mail all winter?”
John asked.
“That’s right,”
Old Joe said. (2)

It was growing darker every minute and what with that and the snowflakes swirling all round him he could hardly see three feet ahead. And then too there was no road. He kept slipping into deep drifts of snow, and skidding on frozen puddles, and tripping over fallen tree-trunks, and sliding down steep banks, and barking his shins against rocks, till he was wet and cold and bruised all over. The silence and the loneliness were dreadful…..[He said] to himself, “When I’m the King of XX the first thing I shall do will be to make some decent roads.” (3)

By the middle of the pasture, the flakes were falling thicker. Now the wind drove Irene along so rudely she had to hop, skip, and go helter-skeltering over the knobby ground. Cold snow sifted into her boots and chilled her feet. She pushed out her lip and hurried on. This was an important errand….[The wind] swept up and scattered the fallen snow, got in front of Irene to keep her from moving ahead. Irene turned around and pressed on backwards. (4)

“On the little that could be seen of his face behind some unusually white-looking whiskers there was a mixture of surprise and excitement as he took in the sight which met his eyes. Overnight a great change had come over the weather. Whereas the day before had been mild, almost spring-like for early January, now everything was covered by a thick white blanket of snow which reached almost to the top of his Wellington boots.” (5)

[She] stood at the little window looking out in wonderment, for the snow was beginning again, and the thick flakes kept falling till the snow was up to the window; and still they continued to fall, and the snow grew higher, so that at last the window could not be opened, and [they] were shut up fast within the hut. (6)

In most places the snow was still hardly lying at all, for the wind kept catching it up off the ground in sheets and clouds, and hurling it in their faces. And round their feet little eddies of snow ran about as you sometimes see them doing over ice. And, indeed, in many places, the surface was almost as smooth as ice….Fighting her way forward with hood up and head down and numb hands inside her cloak....the only things she thought about were her cold hands (and nose and chin and ears) and hot baths and beds at Harfang. (7)

The ladder was his only hope, and yet there was so much more work to do….It was not much later when the wind began howling through the dark woods and fine flakes of snow whipped through the branches of the oak. Indoors it was warm and cozy, and to take his mind off his misery Warton decided to play a game of solitaire. (8)

The rest of the fieldmice, perched in a row on the settle, their small legs swinging, gave themselves up to enjoyment of the fire, and toasted their chilblains till they tingled; while [their host], failing to draw them into easy conversation, plunged into family history and made each of them recite the names of his numerous brothers, who were too young, it appeared, to be allowed to go out a-carolling this year, but looked forward very shortly to winning the parental consent. (9)

"We'll be lucky if we each get one present," said Susan. "Maybe we won't get any present at all," said Neddie. "Maybe Santa Claus won't be able to come, because it's snowing so hard...." "That doesn't make any difference to Santa Claus," said Betsy. "He always comes. Come on, let's help Santa Claus. Let's make presents." (10)

“You can fly in storms,” said Aunt Lily. “You’ve flown in storms before.” “That’s different—I was alone.” “I don’t see the difference,” said Aunt Lily. “If you can fly in a storm, we can fly in this storm if we have to. And that is that.” (11)