Just Real Quick

I've been blogging in my mind. But no time to blog for real. But I'm making it happen today. If anybody ever read this blog before, you're probably long gone. I miss you!

Anyway, I personally like going back and seeing what I've been up to, so I'm gonna soldier on when I get a sec. And oh, there's been so much to blog about! 'Tis the season! I'm hand making up a storm this Christmas. Which is just plain crazy because there is SO much going on in work world that I really should set this holiday aside for letting myself off with doing store-bought EVERYTHING. But the more I work, the more ideas I get for homemade stuff....and oh, its a vicious cycle....or a mental problem...or both.

Anyway, the only thing I have pics of is from quite a while ago, when Joanns put their flannel on sale for $1.29 a yard. And I should have gone crazy, but didn't, then had to go back when it was on sale for $2.49, and went just sort of crazy. Next year, it's on.

Anyway, made pillowcases for most family and friends. Am in the process of making rice bags/hot compresses/whatever you call them for work folks. With peppermint tea bags emptied into them. They are awesome. Hopefully will post pics before Valentines Day.

Hope you all are having a wonderful gearing-up-for-Christmas season!

P.S. Have you SEEN this fabric? It's Alexander Henry and I forget the name...something about rain. I'm in love with it.

Our tree is doomed.



Organization Obsession - A Visual Explanation of Why I Haven't Been Blogging

I've spent most of my leisure time in the last three weeks taking our office/guest room/craft room from this:

To this:

Goodwill thanks me. I thank me.

I'm on to the living room, and I can't be on the computer at work as much, so I'll probably continue my frequent absences.

I'm sad, I miss it here, but I do have some posts in the ether waiting to be written, so when inspiration and spare time collide, I will see you here!



Hunting

We went on a week long hunting trip to Wyoming. I can see why people love Fall so much. It was gorgeous. Though I'd share some highlights:

I just adore this one. Two little boys after several hours cooped up in the pickup.

A really great read. Inspiring. And the salt flats....great terrain to read while driving through.

Big Wonderful Wyoming. Really can't say more.

Within minutes of arriving in the area my husband had deer and antelop tags for. Harbinger of a good hunt!

My husband, just after killing his first deer. It was so good to see him happy and at home.

The deer (and antlope - we got 2 of each) were so beautiful. We are so greatful to them for the food they will provide and for the wonderful lessons they allowed us to teach our boys.

This brought back some memories! Remember your first time "driving"? I can't believe my baby is so big...

Willie, getting a piggie back ride from dad up a hill, in pursuit of the second antelope.

Beautiful campsite, beautiful family, beautiful food, and beautiful memories. And a shot or two of whiskey!

Post hunt visit to Grandma's ranch!

A new rope swing and a little brother doing his best to help his big brother out with a push.



Farmer Dylan

A beautiful Fall day today - a little bit warm, but turning all orangey and cooler in the evening. Baked a pumpkin casserole then ignored the dirty house and went outside for some evening air. We harvested our first of four potato plants,

and I stirred up my compost pile. We've been piling it up for like three years now, but with it being so dang dry here I just sort of assumed nothing was happening with it. I kept putting off mixing it because I didn't want to be dissapointed when I saw what would surely be all the scraps of the previous couple of years, dried and hardened into dessicated forms of their previous selves, with no sign of decomposition. Oh me of little faith! Look what I've got!:

Dark, crumbly, delicious smelling compost!! I startled some mice out of a home they apparently have set up at the bottom of the bin - is this a bad sign? I just can't imagine it is, what with how beautifully rich the compost is looking. There's nowhere near enough to use on our vegetable garden, so I'll have to decide if I'm going to keep growing the pile, or share this yummy stuff with the perennial beds.

It was such a gorgeous evening I had to snap a few pics just to remind me of why people love Fall, and why I might like it quite a bit as well. That teeny tiny moon was just beautiful.



Willie caught me taking pictures of him riding his "Harley" back and forth on the patio like a mad man and demanded I take a few more, even though it was really too dark. But I obliged him as I am trying not to argue over the small stuff anymore, and he was really excited about it:

My camera really wasn't having it. But you get the picture, right? I wish I could bottle that enthusiasm.

Amazing People I Know and Their Treehouse Village

A couple of days I posted about my amazing online friend Monica and her pottery, and today I'm posting about my friends Matt and Erica and their Treehouse Village in Costa Rica - in my life I have met some incredibly wonderful and interesting people who are doing incredibly interesting and inspiring things in the world and these two certainly stand out in that crowd!!! I won't go on and on in my own attempt to describe their project, as I think their website and the piece that aired on ABC news (!!!) this morning have it covered:

Farmama Curtains!

I finally got to work on them this weekend! Inspired by Farmama's blog post from a while back, they aren't as pretty as hers, but they are pretty. I think I got conned on ebay b/c I'm pretty sure these are not handmade doilies. But oh well. On the next panel I am using some that definitely are. I figured out a trick to join the pieces so that the front and back of the seam are pretty. I'm pretty proud of myself. Im certain its an established technique, but I went about it the hard way and figured it out for myself instead of googling it. I don't know why but I just hate reading instructions! Argh!



Did you get a load of the weather we got? Last week in the 90s, this weekend, 60s and the rain came down. Got my laundry wet:

Got my goats wet:

But, looks like I get to start posting pictures of pretty skies again, so that's good:

Next time I'll try to go outside to get it heh heh.

Phantom Friends & Their Beautiful Pots

My mom came to visit a couple of weeks ago. She accused me of being addicted to the internet and the "phantoms" I talk to on here. Whether she's correct about the addiction part or not is up for debate. I certainly do spend a lot of time on the internet anymore. I certainly think about what I'm missing when Im not on it. I'd certainly be very sad if I ever lost access to it. Meh, maybe addiction is somewhat accurate. Whatevs. I don't have an iphone or anything so I have to actually be at home or at work and in front of a computer to be on the internet, so by virtue of this alone, I think I'm doing better than many in maintainting contact with the real world and the real people in it.

As far as my "phantom" friends, I think my mom is just wrong. I understand where she's coming from though. They are people that have no physical presence in my life. I've met them on forums and through blogs, I've seen pictures of them and their children, I know their victories and their defeats, yet I've never shared their air. To my mom, that means they are phantoms. But what she doesn't realize, and what I never realized until I got a job that allowed me more reliable internet access in order to register on a forum, is that you can actually become very close to people without sharing their air. I know their thoughts - in fact I think I know more about them than most of their IRL (in real life for you non-forum folks) friends. I can guarantee they know more about me!

Anyway, all this to set the scene for how exciting it was to have one of my phantom friends spring to life courtesy of the US mail, in the form of her very real, very touchable, and infinitely beautiful pottery. This Summer, during my blogging hiatus, I sent her diapers. She sent me this:

Monica Pharr

She is incredible. And totally not a ghost. AND, she has an etsy shop - here

I'm pretty sure that she prefers paypal to diapers though...unless you are HER phantom friend. :-)

Treasury Love

I've been neglecting my etsy shop. It got to be a lot of pressure even though I wasn't selling a whole lot, I was practically praying I didn't get any orders. I'm thinking that is a bad sign as far as running a business goes. So I'm on hiatus and only offering my homebirth shirt. And only some sizes of that, b/c I haven't re-ordered blank shirts. It seems like I should have a plan before I reorder, and I have no plan. Sigh. I even had some interest in selling the homebirth shirt wholesale. Which I would love to do! I'd love to get the message out there! But I'm overwhelmed by the regulations for children's clothing. I'm overwhelmed by labeling, I'm overwhelmed by upfront costs. Another sigh. I wish somebody would buy the idea and then mass produce them themselves. That would make me happy I think. ANYWAY. All this is beside the point. The point is, my shirt got featured in a third lovely treasury with all things birth related, please have a closer look here. You especially have to see that great crochet pattern for the educational mama doll giving birth. How awesome is that!!!



Pumpkins, Projects, and Primping

We harvested some of our pumpkins this weekend, and after a Facebook post asking for recipe ideas (which netted me 20 responses all completely drool-worthy) I ended up making some ice cream and some cookies, roasting the seeds, and freezing a bunch for future weekends. It was super fun, and the ice cream was an appropriate choice considering temperatures are still in the 90s!

I bought this bowl last week at the thrift store and I just think it is so pretty. I don't know anything about it - I see these kind of bowls all the time and they're usually pretty beat up but this one was pristine and one buck so I had to have it. I don't know what it is, I just really like the cute floral patterns on it. I imagine it's nothing special, but one of those funny things that just appeals for some reason.

I roasted the pumpkins...

mashed them all up...

and mixed some with spices and pecans, then folded in some vanilla ice cream (yes, I totally cheated. But I have no ice cream maker). It was DELICIOUS!

Then I got to work on a rag rug I've been working on forever. My original was curling terribly so I've been feeling frustrated with the whole thing. This weekend I sat down - with instructions - and found out I've been doing single crochet all wrong. Duh. Must learn to read instructions first. So I pulled it all out and re-worked it - correctly- and what do you know! It's flat. I'm currently in the process of increasing on two sides (haven't read instructions, when will I ever learn) and hoping this starts turning my rug into a rectangle. We shall see. But I'm pretty proud of it. It's super fast and rewarding too. I'm mostly using old sheets.

In other news, my son has started primping. A couple of weeks ago, he spent some time in the bathroom and came out dripping wet with this new hairstyle:

He said "I like it flat."

This morning, his dad even got in on the fun. He poked his head in the bathroom as I was getting ready and stole my bottle of gel "for Willie". This was the result:

Apparently he no longer likes it flat.