Some light reading

We are feeling pulled in lots of directions this winter.  We have so much to learn and are having trouble deciding where to start.  What are you reading right now?

Happy Halloween

Sorry for the break in posts!  Last time I wrote it was just starting to feel like fall.  Now it is undeniably completely fall.  The leaves are falling.  The air is cool.  There is a Jack-o-lantern grinning at me from the counter and the seeds are toasting in the oven.  We have been so busy I haven’t taken the time to write.  We are making progress on a lot of fronts.  The land loan stuff is coming together.  The house really feels like a home now that the book cases are painted and all of our books are unpacked.  Books really are necessary for a house to feel like a home.  Speaking of books, I am reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle right now.  It is awesome!  I am learning so much and getting motivated to live better.  I could write more but it would take over the post.  Maybe I will talk about it more after I finish it.  For now, I will say, “Read it!”

We are continuing to tackle projects outside as well.  We have done a lot of research on the plants we already have on property.  We ordered 2 paw paw trees and a few blueberry bushes.  I found the Foundation Seed Program through Clemson and am looking forward to ordering heirloom seeds for spring.  Today we rebuilt/repaired a few cold frames from parts left in the barn.  I felt particularly clever when I found the perfect hinges on another piece of scrap in the barn.  We are trying out the cold frames with some lettuce and turnip seeds.  It is probably way to late in the season but we will see what happens.  We are continuing to pick up pecans and pick the pomegranates as they split.  Yum!  If you have never had a pomegranate fresh from the tree you are missing out.   And if you have never seen a pomegranate tree, it looks like something straight out of Dr. Suess.

We have plenty more to do but it feels great to be making progress.  Oh, and if anyone knows anything great to do with pomegranates please let me know.  Right now we are eating them plain, in yogurt, and (my favorite) in pomegranate martinis.  What else can we do?

Feels like fall

Today was a busy day around the house. It really felt like fall with the beautiful weather and we spent all day outside. A quick walk to check out the status of the pecan trees turned into over an hour of pecan collecting. Bill had to run back to the house for more buckets… twice. We ended up collecting about 7 gallons of pecans. Almost all of these came from just one of the trees. All of the others haven’t quite starting dropping yet. We are going to have more pecans than I can imagine using. Certainly more than I can imagine cracking. In the afternoon we opened up the camper and looked things over in hopes of getting a fall camping trip in next weekend. Then in a bit of role reversal, I cleaned out the gutters while Bill played with Annabelle. It felt great to get something accomplished.

Through all of our adventures today we were accompanied by our newest “family” member. Yesterday we were adopted by Petey, the pigeon. He showed up on our back windows and asked to come in. Of course we didn’t let him in but we went out to visit and fed him some bread. He spent all evening hanging on the storm door trying to be part of things. Today he was waiting for us on the back porch. He spent a lot of time helping Annabelle pick up pecans but also closely observed Bill while he worked on the Bronco and on the camper. He came up to help me with the gutters and just hung out only a few inches away from me on the roof. After spending a lot of the day trying, Annabelle managed to pet Petey once. He didn’t seem to mind. The dogs made an attempt to get to know Petey as well but that made him a little nervous. Happily he came back anyway. I hope he comes back again tomorrow. Here is a picture of Annabelle and her friend.

Making progress

I went back tonight and read the first post I wrote on June 12th.  As the minor frustrations pile up, it is so important to remember the excitement and keep our dreams in mind.  It is also important to acknowledge and celebrate the progress so far.  There has been a lot of progress in the last 4 months.  Most amazingly, the house in Charleston sold!  This was not without complications but still a huge reason to celebrate.  We are no longer home owners.  It is strange to celebrate this when 5 years ago we were so excited to own that home and call it our own.  But now it is a huge weight off our shoulders and an important step to actually owning our little house on the dairy.

In other news, we have a beautiful new front door, railings that are safe and lead free, a pretty kitchen floor, painted rooms, and a termite bond.  We have settled in and are making friends.  We bought a pomegranate tree and plowed a plot to start getting ready for a garden.  We are chasing the dream and we are closer and closer to making it ours!

Tomatoes and cucumbers!

I picked up tomatoes and cucumbers at Sam’s Curb market ( my current favorite produce shop). The tomatoes went in the dehydrator to use in recipes that call for sun dried tomatoes. If you don’t know, this is a easy way to get the same taste much cheaper. We had the dehydrater for several years before I realized it!
The cucumbers are languishing in the fridge because making pickles seemed more fun a few days ago. I need to get motivated and get them done! What are you all putting off this weekend?

Skirt upcycle part 2

Last night after several battles with my serger I finished Annabelle’s skirt.  I learned a lot but the tricky part about upcycling is that I will never have a project quite like that one again.  Hopefully I will be able to apply what I learned to other projects anyway.  The biggest thing I realized was that you can never leave too much fabric around the cute trim that you want to save.  I ended up with a messy waistband casing and using a lot of fray check on the bottom to keep the pretty ribbon on the top and the cute rick rack on the bottom.  Hopefully the fray check will hold.  I haven’t used it before so I may end up hemming the skirt more and losing the rick rack after it has been washed.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  It flairs out over that cloth diaper and swishes delightfully when she walks.  Annabelle was happy too although she wasn’t that happy when I took the picture.

She had her shoes on and wanted to go.  She didn’t understand why I was wasting time taking pictures when we could be going places and doing things.  Please disregard my wild eyed dog.  She didn’t photograph too well.  I promise she isn’t a zombie.

I still have a scrap of skirt fabric left but since my sister told me I was not to make Bill a matching vest for family photos (and Wendy knows everything) I think I am finished with this project.  Time to get to work on another project from the pile.

Skirt upcycle

I am so excited to be getting my sewing space finally set up in our little house. It was tough to adjust to a corner of the living room after having the whole FROG to spread out in before. There has been some creative repurposing and I will definitely share photos when it is finished. I just couldn’t wait to get back to sewing though and have jumped into a project while the space is still not quite done.
I started with a very fun patterned skirt that my mother-in-law wore to our rehearsal dinner a few years ago. I forgot to take a picture before I started so I hope she will forgive the use of one from that night without permission. The photo also shows off my brother’s snazzy jean shorts so I know you will enjoy!

The elastic on the skirt had given up and she hoped I could make it into something for Annabelle. Annabelle visited the skirt frequently while it waited for me to get around to it. She loved to play with it and I know she would love something made from it. However, I loved it to0 much to use it all for her!

I am not sure why I have one eye glowing in the photo but hopefully you will be too distracted by the fabulousness of my skirt or the greyhound rear end taking up all of the floor space to notice. I still have enough material to make her skirt but I need to take some measurements and I am not sure I am stealthy enough to get them without waking her up. I will definitely share photos of hers when it is done too.  I’m not sure about us wearing them at the same time… what is your take?  Can we match or would that be too much?