The Simple Woman daybook

FOR TODAY monday (tuesday ! ops ) 29 september
Outside My Window...
Is still dark, it's very early in the morning
I am thinking...
The house is so quite when the kids are sleeping
I am thankful for...
The feeling of being provided for, sometimes i feel like all our needs are met with few effort, we may not get always all we want, but we sure get what we really need.
From the kitchen...
The table is already set for breakfast ( it's a sort of ritual my dh does every night, he sets the table for all of us )
I am wearing...
A long jeans skirt, orange long-sleeved t-shirt, striped socks and red shoes
I am creating...
Autumn decorations for the house, along with the pink curtains for the girls room
I am going...
Nowhere today :)
I am reading...
The usual bunch of books of which i know only the italian title
I am hoping...
For a day or two of rain during the week, to snuggle inside with the kids for some indoor activity
I am hearing...
The humming of the laptop and nothing more, since everybody is still sleeping
Around the house...
It's dark, silent, country and neighbours still safe in their sleep
One of my favorite things...
Wake up the kids with kisses and cuddles, their sweet faces, their hands rubbing their eyes and their smiles when i wish them a new good day to spend together
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
Clean the house, finish the pink curtains and maybe my first quilt, decorate the house for autumn, hopefully organize a lungh here for sunday with my brothers in law and some friends

Here is picture thought I am sharing



My kids in the ''toy'' swimming pool we have had in the yard for all the summertime.
They had a blast playing Olympic games in there. You see they are ready to start :)

To join the daybook visit Peggy's lovely blog

Saturday cooking day part 2 - pass on the legacy

So yesterday was saturday again, and again i made all the cooking for today and breakfast\snacks\bread for as long as they lasts.
In the early morning i even had 2 great helpers, Gaia and Seba. My sweet girl is now so good in the kitchen, she can find the recipe on the family kitchen book, take all the ingredients and scale and do almost everything by herself. I'm there as (proud :D ) supervisor and Seba was the 'chef - helper '.
Of course after a while they both headed out in the yard playing, but still the first plumcake was made by them. Here some pics of yesterday's cooking session :)


Gaia and Seba at work


Gaia mixing eggs and sugar


Seba pouring yogurt over the dry yeast ( usually we use homemade yogurt, but we menaged to make the last one go sour and needed the store-bought one, but they come in couple so ... )


Here the plumcake just out of the oven :)


Then after the kids went out, i made another cake ( as we call it 'white cake' meaning is just very simple, no filling no frosting very soft )


Then i had some pumpikin in the fridge and i thought to cook it, i made this one delicate, to mash and add to tomato sauce to make some past for dinner today. Kids are not big on veggies ( think i'm trying to become vegetarian instead ! ) and sometime i hide vegetables here and there .... shhhh ! ;)


And here some hot pumpikin for me to eat along some spiced and hot tofu ( i cook it with ginger and garlic )


And here some bread, i love the smell and taste of homemade bread, i have no bread machine so it's all handmade and for me it's such a relaxing activity


Here a 'meat casserole' ( meatloaf ? ) for lunch today, kids love it and also Papa F don't disdain it :D


Three batches of vanilla bisquits just waiting for the oven


The vanilla frosting left found its place over a slice of plumcake, it's still setting in the fridge


And the left sweet dough became 7 deep fried krapfen rolled in sugar :P

By 16:00 (4:00 pm ) everything was done and the oven will take at least 2 or 3 days of rest ( i'll only take today ;) )

Insects and snails

The 'big thing' of this last summer has been the love and interest Leo and Milla showed for every kind of animal including all kind of insects. Personally i don't like insects AT ALL but of course i encouraged their love and interest in the little ones and their life and habits. The only golden rule is out in the garden followed by not in my house more then the few seconds to show me their newest pet

Following some random pic of their activities

Mini-snails on a lettuce leaf, they picked each and every one of those snails, it was an afternoon long affaire

The mini-snails on Leo's hand

Leo's butterfly

Leo's capturing ants for his ants house

Milla welcome a new friend, a Praying Mantis. I have to admit that even if i'm horrified at the idea of this insects coming near me, it is a really beautiful creature, and it was interestng it kinda became friends with Milla, jumping only on her hand for all day long but 'running away' if someone else was trying to catch it (NOT ME :D )

The Mantis climbing to Milla's shoulder to take a seat ;)

The beehive we found inside the swing set

Another snail on Leo's hand

Leo showing one of his caterpillars. The amazing thing is that he and Milla found several small caterpillars, put them in a box with sand and fresh vegetables each day and after some days they called me and the caterpillars were so much bigger ! At least 10 times longer. They've been really good taking care of them.
To end this parade the 'real' pets of this household, turtles and hamster. We have 2 turtles ( actually they were mine, i got them around 25 years ago ! ) and we had a Hamster but the little thing died back in august after 2 or 3 short months here with us.




Have a good weekend everybody !

Of kitchen garden, canned goods and full pantry

Hello all ,

i've spent the morning cleaning and organizing our pantry. This year beside growing our usual kitchen garden i've given a try to canning and making jams, and i'm kinda happy of the results.We have tomato sauce, pesto sauce, fruit salad and peaches, cucumbers, small artichokes and jam jam and more jam.

Here some pics i took during the summer


Chili peppers and Leo's onions


'My' onions in the garden


Cucumbers


The beautiful purple flower of the eggplant


And later on the eggplant itself


Tomatoes !


Chili peppers drying


After the harvest, the winter garden is ready

And here some pic of the first try ever doing jam, we picked nearly 2 kilos of blackberries in a nearby field, then Gaia and I decided to give it try and now we're the 'jam' princesses :D


Gaia and our berries, isn't she lovely in her apron ?


Is it ready ? ..... yummmm


Done !!!!!!!

And here all my canned goods as they are displayed in our pantry

It makes me so happy just looking at it. I love it when with the only work of my hands and love from my heart i can provide to my family. I feel so priviledged.

Have a blessed day !

p.s. A special thanks to all the ladies that commented on the daybook, they made me feel so welcome.As for the crocheted curtain i'll show it as soon as it's ready :)

The simple woman's daybook

After following the daybook hosted by Peggy at for ages, finally i'm in :)

Outside my window .... The sun is shining and the yard is quiet since all the kids are still in school

I am thinking .... I wish i could homeschool my kids ...

I'm thankful for .... My precious kids and my dear husband

From the kitchen .... Lentils and rise for lunch waiting on the stove

I'm wearing .... Long black skirt, red and blak shirt batik-style i homemade, striped socks, my hair combed in a pony-tail

I'm reading .... A bunch of different books, unfortunately i only know the italian titles for them, sorry ladies !

I'm hoping .... To have a good week ahead, full of love and laughter with my dear ones

I'm creating .... I'm crocheting pink curtains for my girl's room

I'm hearing .... Silence, i'm home alone right now

Around the house .... laundry, laundry and more laundry after the usual break i take on weekend

One of my favourite thing .... Reading to my kids

A few plans for the rest of the week ... Try to re-organize the living room to make room for my sewing gear, fabrics, cottons, wool and books and magazine related

Here a picture for you ....



My youngest doughter, Milla 4 years old, ''playing'' the piano. I love the way she is all concentrated over what she is doing.

Have a blessed week !

Saturday : cooking day

Yesterday i sure honoured the tradition of the cooking day. I started quite early in the morning preparing 2 chocolate pies and with the leftover dough some small jam pies ( the peach jam i homemade a while ago ). Seba has been asking for weeks a chocolate pie, but has long as it has been overly hot i prefered not to make it.
Then while all the pies were baking i prepared some dough to rise and let it grow until after lunch when it became cinnamon rolls, vanilla bisquits, peach jam krapfen. Then since i had some leftover vanilla frosting i simply put it over some cookies and let it set. My husband said we should open a bakery :) the smell of vanilla and cinnamon was all over the house and the yard :)
Here some pic...

Chocolate pies and jam pies

Is the dough raising ? ....

...Yes it is !! :)

On the left vanilla bisquits, on the right cinnamon rolls and krapfen

And with the vanilla frosting left, here the cookies

Here a pic of all i did. Please notice what's left of the first pie and small pies and the lack of frosted cookies :DDDDD

Mmmmm .... now i'm hungry, good thing is breakfast time :P

Have a blessed sunday !

Bikes shelter

Yesterday morning with the help of PapaF ( my dear husband ) the kids could build the bike's shelter they've been dreaming and planning for days.
When the job was done it came out it's too small for all the bikes but they promptly turned it in a 'home theatre' in the literal meaning of the world :)
Some pic of the work in progress...



Seba at work



The 3 oldest 'workers' under the shelter :)



Leo under the shelter. The can he holds is the worms house. Yep he collects insects of all kind. ALIVE. The joy of motherhood :D



Gaia and Seba giving the final touch and discussing if this would work better as a theatre :)

Rain !!!!!!!!!!

Finally yesterday we had the first rainy day in ages. Actually last week we had a big thunderstorm with the first rain after 3 long hot and dry months ( the last rain was probably mid-june ! )that brought some cooler air, but yesterday finally we had a grey, rather chilly, constantly rainy day. What a blessing to have this taste of autumn, made of hot tea and sewing machine smell of cake in the oven and fried chicken in the pan. After school the kids run taking their rain overall, jacket and boots and went out palying in the rain for a while, they were so excited as well.



Ready to go ! But ... where's Leo ? Still putting his boots on !!!! Let's wait for him !



Here the 4 of them ready to go !!!