2nd Round of Christmas Gifts and Driving

Last week before school started back, Hannah and I worked really hard on getting the teacher’s gifts ready. Originally Hannah had baked a bunch of cookies, but left them in the car on the last day of school in December.  In the end, we gave those cookies to her aunts and uncles in addition to the ornaments she made.  She decided to make candles for her teachers and I knit a couple dishcloths to wrap them in. 

Candle making has turned into something that we actually enjoy doing in the kitchen together.  We use an old pot, a tin can, left over wax, the tea light holders and the old metal wick tabs from my Partylite candles, some old Timmy’s cups, drops of rosemary essential oil, and old crayons to dye the candles.  The only thing we purchased was the wicks, (which falls into the craft section of ok brand new items).  I was in the past a “Candlelite Addict” but since the compact I have not purchased any brand new candles.

Here is Hannah’s first candle she made:

And here are the one’s she made for her teacher’s:

And here are the tea lights we made for their Godparent’s and to replenish my out of stock cupboard:

I was nervous having Hannah home from school for two weeks but it turned out great.  If I was feeling more confident I would be very interested in home schooling her.  Our lives are back to a chaotic pace (for me) which involves a lot of driving.  Sigh..



Driving.. it hurts my neck/shoulder and am fearful to drive at night….therefore,

One of the next things on my compact to do list is start to monitor our kilometers and the amount of gas we get per liter.  We are on a tight budget but I feel absolutely guilty about the vehicle I drive, the mileage, and the reasons why we drive.  My friend Karen had mentioned at one time having her wedding favors in the form of Carbon Credits.  In a future post after monitoring I would like have the amount that it would cost for these credits and more information about them.  If we want to live a more “compacty” life in my view it means decreasing the amount of kilometers and time spent driving.

 Have a great evening!

Erin and Hannah