10 days?!? Already?!

It doesn't seem like it's been 10 days since Maezie was born, but it has. Most of it's pretty much a blur of no sleep, junk food, a massive 'Scrubs' marathon, and dirty diapers. All last week I had Davey here to help me cope, and that was HUGE, because he already knows what needs to be done without anyone having to ask. He's a good man. Not even kidding.

But now Davey's gone back to work and I'm on my own. I'll tentatively say that it's going ok. I did have a bit of an emotional breakdown this morning, but only for about 10 minutes. I do seriously miss a good night's sleep. And I hope and pray that Punkin will adjust to having to share the spotlight with her sibling. So far that's been the hardest thing to deal with. Usually Punkin is a happy, easy kid. She just wants to hang out and do her thing. But for the past few days she wants to be held constantly, and is super duper fussy. Hard to deal with when there's a newborn around, too. Maezie, on the other hand, is a breeze. Much like Punkin was at that age, only even easier because I've had a little bit of practice this time around.

I'm optimistic about this staying at home business. I think I can handle it.

t-minus

12 hours and counting. We're due at the hospital at 5:30 in the AM to finally get to meet this little girl. This day has taken FOR EVERRR. Davey and I have spent the day trying to get labor going on it's own - we took a long walk, spicy food, all the little "tricks" (except castor oil.. I figure I'll be kind to the Drs and nurses.) While I do feel a wee bit more relaxed, I'm still totally anxious to get this over with. Sleep tonight? I doubt it.

times, they are a-changin'

So. Today I started my last week of work. Not my last week of work until maternity leave is over, or my last week for the next few months. My LAST WEEK EVER. Kinda freakin' out over here. I've been working pretty much steadily since I was 15, and been at my current job for 8 of those 15 years. This place is so much a part of my daily routine that I just kind of take it for granted that I'll be sitting at the same desk, in front of the same PC, surrounded by the same sounds and people and daily grind that I have for years now.
Don't get me wrong, I'm very VERY much looking forward to being at home with my girls, but there will definitely be some adjusting. Especially financial adjusting. This is a HUUUUUUGE leap of faith we're taking here, believing that God wants me to be at home raising our daughters, and that some way, somehow, he's going to provide for us. I truly believe that this is the right choice, and that if we don't take the step now and just trust God to keep us going, it won't ever happen. That doesn't mean it's not weird, freaky, and scary though. Expect me to be a neurotic mess every once in a while.
In the meantime, we're finally getting ready for Maezie's imminent arrival. Yesterday we did some work on her room, like organizing the furniture and even hanging a few things on the wall. I even got my suitcase packed!
Setting up her room brought out something to me though - how very different this pregnancy experience has been. With Punkin, we bought so many things just for her. For her room, clothing, care, etc. With Maezie, it's all make-do and hand-me-downs. I feel a tiny bit guilty. I don't have a whole pile of sweet cutesy things to decorate her room with, unless I pilfer from Punkin's room (which I've been doing). I haven't bought her any toys or stuffed animals. Not for her very own. We don't even have a baby book for her yet. It may be a little late in the game, but I feel like we need to get her some things that are special and just for her. I don't ever want her to feel like she's second-best, or an afterthought. It's just so much easier to focus all our attention on the child we can actually see. Not to mention Punkin's just plain adorable and easy to love and spoil. I'm sure Maezie will be, too. I can't wait til she's actually here and we can hold and cuddle and love and spoil both of our girls. Geez, that sounds mushy. Get over it.

Speaking of Punkin, it's been a big couple of weeks for her, as well. She started walking on October 28th, and she had her first birthday party on Saturday. It was such a fun day! I know she's only 1 and won't remember it, but it was still so awesome to see her have such a good time. I'm continually amazed by the love that our little family is shown by our friends and loved ones. It's just too good.
By far the highlight of the day for Punkin was when she got her Teepee from Auntie Jill, and her tunnel from Nana. This child just loves anything she can crawl into and hide in. She was literally squealing with delight, and did pretty much all weekend. I'd say eating her very own birthday cake was also a big deal, but I think it was more so for those of us watching her shove cake and icing up her nose than it was for her. She was just enjoying some cake, you know? Who cares that it was all over her face?

Now that the party's over, I'm ready to wrap up work, get the house back in order a little, and meet my new little girl. The next few weeks will be interesting, to say the least.

and the madness continues..

Just a quick update to my previous post, I present further evidence that I have, indeed, lost my mind: Tuesday night, we adopted a puppy. He's an adorable little basset hound mix named Rufus. Supposedly he's going to be Davey's dog, but already when I mention that Davey needs to be the one to take him out to potty, feed him, etc, I'm getting the "He's your dog, too!" response. I really should have known better. I can only try and comfort myself with the knowledge that in a few days (as soon as I can get a collar that he won't slip his wee head out of), Rufus is going to be an outside dog. Then, no more cleaning up puppy poos and piddles. I'll be too busy cleaning up poos and piddles of the baby variety. My only concern with this plan is that Rufus is afraid of everything. The porch. The front door. His food and water bowls. A less-than-1-pound kitten. I'm hoping that once he has some time to adjust and bond to us he'll get over some of these fears, because he was an outside dog when we got him, so really, he ought to be able to handle it. But then what do I know? I'm crazy.

3 weeks, 4 days..

.. and counting.

That's the maximum amount of time remaining before girly # 2 makes her grand entry into the world. ( I know this is the MAX amount of time because I sooooo scheduled an induction this time around. I know it's not all natural and blah blah blah, but I'm not going to be in the hospital for Thanksgiving, dammit!) Whew. Anyhow. You'd think that with the clock ticking and time running short I'd be just about putting the finishing touches on the nursery, lovingly staring at wee baby socks and newborn-sized clothes. And you'd be WRONG. This time around my nesting impulses are on misfire. I have made about a dozen adorable baby hats, and some booties, and started organizing all my crafting supplies. Oh, and I got some new furniture for Punkin's room, which I totally redid and got looking all neat and orderly again (seriously, friends and family, no more baby clothes!! NO MORE!). But Maezie's room? Well.... Davey put the crib up on Friday, so I guess that's a start. And my dad is painting it for me this week. And we moved the twin guest bed into the master bedroom and smooshed it up next to our queen to make one giant-sized bed (Can you say "awesome"? Yeah you can).
I keep having this recurring dream where I go into labor and my suitcase isn't packed. Sometimes I'm at home screaming at Davey not to forget the boppy, others I'm at work, screaming on the phone to poor Davey not to forget the boppy, or I'm driving home from work (the hospital is 5 minutes from my office, and 1 hour from my house, for perspective) so I can pack my suitcase, because I'm not forgetting that damn boppy! As you can see, the insanity is on overdrive 'round here. And the stupid suitcase isn't packed. I keep thinking I'll get to it, but there are dishes to wash and birthday parties to plan and Halloween decorations to put up. I bring the madness on myself.
Speaking of Halloween- we took Punkin to Boo @ the Zoo on Friday night. It. was. awesome. Crowded, but awesome. Adorable kids in costumes (Punkin went as, what else?! a pumpkin), free candy, the zoo. What could be better? I got to wear my jack-o-lantern t-shirt that makes me look like the Great Pumpkin. Yes, I'll post pictures.
So. Maybe tonight I'll get around to packing that suitcase. Or just bake some cookies for the Halloween party instead...

Homemade goodness!

So, last month I mentioned how one of my goals for the near future was to conquer baking my own bread. I tried bread baking once, when I was about 13, with some help from dear ol' Mom. I don't know if I did something wrong, or if it just wasn't time yet, but what came out of the oven was not the fluffy deliciousness I was hoping for. It was more akin to a brick that a Pharaoh could be proud of. And since (even at 13) I believed that if I couldn't bake it, it just couldn't be baked, I turned my back on bread for 17 years. You know, until I had a 10 month old baby and another one on the way and the attention span of a toddler with ADD. I'm a genius like that.

I got inspired to try bread again after reading another friend's post about baking her own; and, in light of my whole quest to make delicious food on my own instead of buying crap at the grocery store, this was kind of a natural progression, dontcha think? It also didn't hurt that my wonderful husband bought me a KitchenAid for Christmas a few years ago. There is now no dough that could frighten me. I think.

Anyhow, I decided to tackle this amazing-sounding light wheat bread recipe. It sounds so very simple, what could go wrong?

Truthfully - the first loaf didn't turn out all that bad. It was still VERY heavy.. kinda chewy and dense and nothing at all like the recipe promised. But it was tasty, and I am still crazy optimistic, and determined (when I want to be). So, I gave it another go the following week. And it was better, really it was. (I'm still not passing the windowpane test; but frankly, I think that's just an urban legend) But it still wasn't right. So, right after I got done making the first batch of dough, I hopped on the internet and researched mixing bread dough in a KitchenAid mixer, and found out that, duh, you don't add all the flour at once. And this time, THIS TIME!!!! I got it right! a fluffy delicious loaf of bready goodness! Take that, 13-year-old me!

The loaf on the left is my second attempt. Still a lil bit funny looking.. though it was AMAZING for breakfast with some blueberry preserves smeared on top, if I do say so myself (and I do).

The one on the right.. that, my friends, is my first-ever successful loaf of bread. Nothing can stop me now!!!

Truth be told, there are still a few adjustments to make... I think it could still be a wee bit fluffier, and when it's sliced you can still see where it was rolled up before being put in the pan for the final round of proofing, but these are minor details. The point is, I'll never buy sandwich bread again. For realz.

Speaking of... here's another thing we'll never have to buy again:

Yep, that's right. The ladies have started laying. Now we just have to figure out what to do with 19 eggs a day. Especially considering that I've not been a fan of eggs this pregnancy. I guess this means I need to bake a lot. Err.. a LOT. Seriously. Anybody need some eggs?

P.S. I almost forgot: meet the newest additions to the farm! We got ourselves 7 muscovy ducks (yes, they're the kind we used to call 'ugly ducks' in Florida, but they're bigger and meaner than your average duck, and we're hoping the dogs will think twice) and a goose named Bill. I'm starting to think that Bill might be a girl.

And, just because:

crafty update

Hard to believe it, but my 3rd trimester in the Great Baby-making Production, the Sequel, is already here. And boy howdy, is it ever. If I say that the world trembles at my approach, I'm sadly NOT being metaphorical. Back-to-back pregnancies are definitely not kind to the figure. I can only try to resist that bag of M&M's in the vending machine downstairs (you know you want 'em!) and pray that I bounce back from this as quickly as I did the first time. There is some comfort in coming back from the hospital weighing 20 pounds less than you did 2 days before.

So, with the birth of baby # 2 looming and my nesting impulses firing like mad, I've been working on a lot of projects as part of my whole "waste not, want not" campaign, and I'm hoping to develope some things that I can add to my Etsy repertoire when I finally get my site back up and running. This week, I learned how to make rag rugs - so ridiculously simple, and so many applications!- and dish soap from scraps of bar soap and lemon juice. I've also been working like crazy on making my own kitchen dish scrubbies from crocheted hemp twine, which I have left over in abundance since I outgrew the hemp jewelry phase. I think they came out pretty nice, and when I can find my camera cable, I'll post a picture.

This past month, I also took my first stab at pressure canning. Nothing exploded, so I'm calling it a success. We now have 18 jars of stewed tomatoes and 9 jars of green beans in the pantry. I'm hoping to get a chance to do some more soon. I'd really like to try pickles, though I'm doubtful that I could ever top the tasty deliciousness of Claussen Koshers. I love those things, pregnant or not.
I don't know that I actually saved a lot of money by canning this time around (I bought the green beans from the farm market) but it was definitely good learning experience. And now that I know how to use the pressure canner, nothing can stop me.

Next on my list to accomplish - homemade bread, the rag rugs I mentioned earlier, and crocheted cotton kitchen towels. I'd also like to play around with soap flakes and essential oils to see if I can make a scented soap concentrate that I could sell in dry form (to save on shipping). A 'just add water' kind of thing. I might have to learn how to make my own bar soap for it. Oh darn. AND - I still need to find a good, cheap, sulfate-free shampoo.
Oh, and also reusable food storage bags. I haven't had a chance to research yet, but I'm going to start looking for a waterproof, washable, food-safe fabric that I can make bags out of that can be washed and reused. I hate throwing out plastic bags all the time. Such a waste.
(Though now that I think about it, could you run the higher grade plastic bags (like ziploc or something) thru the washer and reuse them? How long would they last? or would they just fall apart? I may have to test this.)

In the end I hope to come up with enough cute, creative and thrifty products that I can make at home and sell to other people who are interested in that sort of thing, but maybe don't have the time or resources to make them on their own. Maybe it's all just one of my crazy Ideas that will end up not amounting to much. But it sure is fun to try, and I'm learning so much about being self-sufficient in the process, so it's a win any way you look at it.


Note: since I posted this, oh... 2 hours ago? I've found the answer to my plastic bag material question, and it is (drumroll please): ripstop nylon! I'm definitely not the first to realize that plastic storage bags are a total waste. These things are all over Etsy. Now, to get some fabric (it's surprisingly not that expensive) and make me some food storage bags!

simplifying life

So. After spending a week this summer at camp in a beautiful hand-built cabin, researching Mennonites after discovering the farm market , and finding out we're having another girl in November (hooray!), I've been doing a lot of thinking about the farm and ways to save money and live cheaply (and maybe even make a little money, too).

When we first moved to the farm, we were fresh out of a rental that had been brand new when we moved in, and for a while I really wanted that newness back. I wanted to drop a fortune on a custom kitchen, new bathrooms, wood floors, etc. But the reality is that we don't have that fortune, and aren't going to any time soon. Somewhere along the way, living in the house with it's ramshackle kitchen cabinets, crappy paint and dirty carpet, all of which are still functional, if not asthetically ideal, I've experienced a shift in the way I look at things. Sure, the cabinets suck, and I don't think they're attractive, but they get the job done. Paint is an easy fix, it just takes a little time. The carpet, well, there's no saving the carpet, but rather than going with laminate flooring that looks like wood, we've decided to use real wood boards. Not the kind you buy at Lowes with it's pre-fabbed Brazilian cherry or whatever, but pine that we can get from a sawmill locally, for dirt cheap. It's not really meant for floors, but we saw it used in the cabins at camp, and it looks and feels earthy and natural and homey. I love it.

As far as the kitchen goes, I do want to redo it, but not with manufactured cabinets, with cabinets we build ourselves out of real wood. And maybe the kitchen won't look perfect, but it will be ours.

When it comes to food - we're going to try to grow as much of it as we can, and what we can't grow ourselves, we're trying to buy locally. We've got the land. It's time to use it.

When we need a new bookshelf, why not build it? I read in Countryside magazine about a guy who was doing amazing stuff with wood pallets he got for free- taking them apart and making outbuildings and shelves. Why can't we do that? So much better than buying a piece of particle-board crap at the store. Why have I never done this before?!

I've gotten to the point where I don't even want to go shopping anymore. Because everything in stores like Wal-Mart or Target is cheap plastic junk, and why should I waste my money on it? I want to buy things that are made to last, and made of real materials. And I only want to buy them if I can't figure out how to make them myself. This isn't really new thinking for me, but I think I've finally reached a place where I'm capable of making this a reality. If I can't grow it, bake it or make it myself, do I really need it at all?

So, now I've started this whole "waste not, want not" campaign at home, saving fabric from old clothes, pickle and baby food jars, tin cans, and trying to figure out nifty things I can do with them. Just yesterday I discovered the log cabin quilt block pattern, and I'm addicted. And I'm also wanting to learn how to make rag rugs and other things instead of throwing scrap fabric away. With the jars I think I'm going to try making little hanging lanterns with beads and wire. And with the cans, I'm thinking pierced tin lanterns, pencil holders, or whatever. I'm also scheming a way to turn all of Davey's empty beer cans into tin tiles to redo the backsplash in my kitchen. Sounds crazy, I know. But just crazy enough that it might be totally awesome. AND, who knows, maybe I'll come up with some stuff that's cool enough to sell and make some extra income. Hey, it could happen.

Also on my list now are angora rabbits and cashmere goats, so I can spin my own yarn and dye it with vegetables from my garden. Not to mention the extra meat, milk, and animals to sell. (Hello, goat cheese!)

Some of this sounds crazy, I know. Maybe to some people this doesn't sound like simplifying.
But I don't care. I'm ready to live a different kind of life, and we have this amazing place and all these resources. It just seems wrong not to use them. So, all we can do is try, and we'll see how this turns out!

less chemicals = healthier hair. who knew?!

I'm one of those people for whom clean hair is a really Big Deal. As a teenager wallowing in the throes of puberty, my hair was super-oily and I could just never get it clean enough. At one point, I was washing it with dish soap (!) to get it clean and non-greasy feeling. (oh yeah. I was that girl. The one with the stringy hair). Anywho.. over the years I've had a love/hate relationship with my hair, trying to keep it feeling clean and product-free (well, except for that short affair with hairspray and huge bangs in the 7th grade...) and healthy. I always, ALWAYS had split ends. Baaad ones. Trimming my split ends just meant that my hair got shorter and shorter every month. Seriously. It was ridiculous. Then came pregnancy and the birth of my darling daughter. For all the while I was pregnant, my hair was relatively thick and healthy, thought I still had mad split ends, but then came the post-pregnancy hormone crash (and the ensuing whoopsie, I'm pregnant again! hormone rush) and literally, my hair was falling out. And I was freaking out. Seriously. Bald patches. I'm not even kidding.
I remembered once a long time ago that a guy friend told me that certain chemicals in shampoos actually caused hair loss, so I decided to do a little research. What I found was that the main ingredient in most shampoos (sodium lauryl or laureth sulfate) is actually really bad for your hair and causes split ends, and can cause hair loss. So I went in search of a shampoo that didn't have any of that nastiness in it. I ended up trying Burt's Bees, because, well, I'm a huge sucker for those bees, and because the price was actually less than I was paying for my 10-11.00 shampoo and conditioner that was wreaking havoc on my hair. I noticed a difference almost immediately. It doesn't foam up as much as regular shampoo, but my hair is clean and smells nice, and I haven't had a split end in months. AND, I stopped having handfuls of hair come out every time I washed! Hallelujah!
Sadly, my beloved Burts and most other natural-ish shampoos are hella expensive, and what with our upcoming economic downturn (aka me staying home to be a mommee) I'm going to need to come up with some way to get clean and healthy hair that doesn't cost me 30 bucks a month. I know of one friend who washes her hair with baking soda and vinegar, with great results, she says, but I'm just not ready to go that hippie... yet. So, off to research ways to make my own shampoo. Anyone got any suggestions?

A trip to the Delano Farm Market

Last Sunday for the 4th, Davey and I were feeling a wee bit on the lazy side (we had celebrated his 30th birthday the day before with good food (STEAK!) and lots of good friends) so we decided it was a good day for a drive. We'd been meaning to get out and do some exploring of the area, to get more familiar with what's nearby, so we struck out towards Benton and the Ocoee river to see what we could see.
A few weeks ago at camp we tubed the Hiawassee (well, some of us tubed. I mostly got stuck on rocks in a raft. But it was still fun!) and I caught sight of something I had been wanting to check out ever since: a sign for the Delano Farm Market. I love me some farmer's markets and this was 15 minute from the house, so definitely worth checking out. DEFINITELY. When we turned at the sign, the very first thing I noticed was a road sign warning of horse and buggy crossings. What the hey? Turns out this little portion of Tennessee is Mennonite country, and the farm market is run by the Mennonites, selling the produce from their farm. The Farm market was closed on Sunday (naturally), so we decided to come back the next day (hooray for 3 day weekends!) and check it out.
This place has got to be one of the best farm markets I've ever been to. The produce is FRESH - as in, they just literally picked the crops, loaded the wagon and drove them up here 10 minutes ago kind of fresh. From the parking lot, the farm spreads out in this gorgeous panorama, and it's fascinating to watch all the horse drawn wagons and buggies go by as the Mennonites go about their daily business. It's so serene and simple. Davey and I just sat there and watched them working in their fields for about 20 minutes. But then it was time to get down to the business of shopping (heck yeah, baby). The market has about 8 different varieties of heirloom tomatoes, and the same for chiles and peppers. Tomatoes run 1.25 lb, bell peppers were .75 each, and the hot chiles were all 3 for a dollar. Cabbage was .40/lb, and some of the cabbages were bigger around than my head. They had red and white potatoes (8 lb basket for 4.00), all sorts of melons (which made me cry because the smell was divine and I couldn't have ANY!), eggplant, beets, beans, okra, squash, zuchinni, onions, garlic, sweet corn (3.50 a dozen), plums, peaches, and a few quarts of blackberries. I read in an article I found online that they have amazing strawberries in the spring (though I'm pretty happy with what we got from the Mayfield farm), but of course, those are out of season now. They also sell sorghum (no honey though, bummer), jams, jellies, soaps, etc.
I was also excited to see that they sell seeds that they have saved from the crops they grow - which means that they're local and proven for our area. I'll be trying those out next year.

I managed to get out of the market with only a sampling of some tomato varieties to try (since Davey and I have never really eaten anything but your status quo red tomato from the grocery store), potatoes and a few huge bell peppers. I plan on going back next week with a lot more spending money and pretty much going crazy up in there. Yeah.




If you want to visit the Delano Farm Market - take Highway 411 S past Etowah to Delano Rd. You'll see a sign for the Farm Market on your right. Turn at the sign and then turn right again on Needle Eye Ln. There's a one lane underpass at the train tracks, so watch for oncoming cars (or buggies!). The farm market is just on the other side of the tracks. They're open M -S 9am to 4pm, and only take cash. Also, they ask that people (women especially) dress respectfully. Mostly they don't want to see your boobs. Fair enough, I think.

Oh, and just a heads up: there is no electricity and so no air conditioning. And not a lot of deodorant-wearing. By either the Mennonites or a lot of their hippie-ish patrons. Just sayin'.

farm life

So I just looked at my blog and realized that my last post was in April, and this is freakin' JUNE already. And it's not like I can use pregnancy as an excuse, because the truth is that I've felt pretty awesome this time around. Which is nice for a change. No, I don't miss puking my brains out. Thanks.

Of course, all that means that I'm actually able to get out and DO stuff again, like work in my garden, which is lookin' totally sweet right now, if I do say so myself (which I do, so there.). Only problem is there's these pesky green caterpillars raining death and destruction on my greens. Collards - gone. Turnips - nothing but stems. Now they've moved on to my kale, and I'm not too happy about it. I'm trying to do this garden all organic-like and stuff, but I'm really not sure what to do about these caterpillars. So far I've just been pulling them off by hand and feeding them to the chickens. Fun times.
Speaking of the chickens, we should start getting some eggs here soon. I can't wait to cook my first saturday breakfast using our very own eggs. Awesomeness. I also got me some fancy new chickens that lay blue eggs (or will, when they get big enough). Call me a dork, but I find that totally exciting.

So, life on the farm is good. We're slowly trying to accumulate more understanding about things we all should know already, like how to grow our own vegetables, and how to be less consumer-driven. Hopefully all of this will be a big help when I quit work in the fall, because we're gonna have to start cutting back on our spending in a major way. Self-imposed "poverty." Yeah, baby, yeah!

big changes on the farm

So this past month has been kinda crazy-like. We went thru about a week and a half where critters were dying on us. First we lost a chick - he figured out he was small enough to hop out of the fenced-in chicken run, and the dogs figured out that he made one tasty little snack. (The dogs also got a lesson in not eating the chickens, one which I hope they learned well.) Then we lost Steak to causes unknown. Just woke up one morning and he was a goner. THEN we lost a duck when they tunneled (totally 'Great Escape' style - I think they had little WWII helmets and everything) out of their enclosure and made their way down to the pond. We were planning to move them to the pond anyway, they just got a wee bit ahead of us, and now there is only one. Still -so cute to watch him? her? paddling around the pond in the morning. I named him Plucky. Plucky is NOT for eating.
But, we learned some lessons in all of this. Like - we need more ducks. Ducks are fun. And chicks are way smarter than we gave them credit for. And one cow cannot possibly keep our front pasture under control alone. We either need another cow, or some goats or llamas or something. For realz.
We also found out this month that there will be a new baby critter added to the farm sometime this winter. Of the human persuasion. Wait. Didn't we just do that? Oh yeah. Here we go again.
So funny how the reaction to this announcement differs from the first one. My parents: "Are you kidding me? What are you going to do?" My brother-in-law (to Davey): "Way to go, dumbass."
Me: "Oh no. Again? All summer? You've GOT to be kidding me." and then to Davey: "This is all your fault!!! I was going to go KAYAKING, dammit!!!"
Seriously, though, it is a good and happy thing, even if it's waaaaaay sooner than I would have planned. I just hope these kids are at least a year apart (I'll find out for sure on May 11th). If this one is born before Punkin's first birthday, that's like whoa of Neo proportions. I just cannot deal.

Now, if I can just stop puking long enough, it's time to get the garden going. I built a couple of small raised beds a few weeks ago before the icky-fest of pregnancy sidelined me. Hopefully this weekend I'll be getting a few things started in them, and getting a few other beds built. Last time gardening and pregnancy totally did not work for me, but I'm hoping that this time will be different, and I won't be sick for 8 or 9 months straight. Hope springs eternal, and all that.

Speaking of - that's what we decided to name the farm- Hope Springs Farm. Hope is kind of a big thing for Davey and me, so it seems like the perfect fit.

chickenhaaaawk!!!

(I just love me some WDVX in the morning.)





We got our chicks from the co-op last night, and they are so cute! Thirteen pullets (that's girl chicks) and one lonely rooster. Hopefully when he gets bigger he'll protect the ladies from the aforementioned chickenhawks. It just so happens that we have a pair of hawks that have a nest on our land, so we'll have to be extra vigilant. Although, I don't know if they're chickenhawks or not. I figure any hawk would think these little gals would be a tasty snack.

Even at this very young age (3 or 4 days old) they show all the stereotypical characteristics of hens, pecking and clucking (well, more like peeping right now) and then picking up their skirts and running to the corner when they're even the slightest bit scared. So cute to watch.

Right now they are living in our guest bedroom in a brooder box we built out of a plastic bin:

It was pretty simple to make, just cut the top out and then we put a piece of chicken wire on top, secured with craft wire (so I got to practice my rusty wireworking skillz a little) to keep the kitties out and let some fresh air in. Speaking of the cats, they've set up a base camp outside the bedroom door and are currently plotting the best way to get into this strange and magical box with all that tasty goodness inside. Dream on, suckahs.

Once they're big enough and/or the weather is warm enough, we'll move them (the chickens, that is) out to the coop to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine, and hopefully start getting their egg laying on.

I still can't believe we have chickens. It's waaaaay crazy. But in a good way.

spring cleaning

(that's one full dumpster, ya'll!)


Check one more off the list of things to accomplish: we got ourselves a dumpster.
And spent pretty much the entire weekend loading it up.

One of the first things we noticed (I mean, it was hard to miss) was the enormous amount of trash on the property. Piles of junk everywhere.

(this was the yard before)



We assumed it was all just old stuff that had been left sitting out and never picked up properly, but we very quickly learned otherwise. Everything in the outbuildings and on the ground was broken TRASH. Just absolute garbage. Nothing salvageable except 2 bowling balls and a handful of carabiner clips, and a frame with a broken mirror I'm going to repaint and fix up. There were tarps buried in the leaves out in the woods, with cinder blocks on them, and under each one was piles of disintegrating bags of household garbage. I mean, I get that driving your trash to the dump is a pain in the ass, but come on. Diapers, motor oil, car parts, beer cans. It was absolutely disgusting.
I didn't expect cleaning up the yard to be an emotional experience, but I was alternating between absolute rage at the sheer laziness and ignorance, and heartbreak for the land, the poor, abused land. At least one tree that was growing in the garbage is dead. Under the piles I found daffodils and daylillies struggling to come up. It made me want to punch someone. And it made me more determined than ever to love this land and care for it.
It's the most awesome feeling to pull up the drive now and see a nice clean yard. It looks and feels a thousand times better.

(the yard after)

We still need to do some repair on the two buildings we kept, and put sides and doors on them so no one can see all our junk when it goes in there. But our junk will be nice junk, organized junk. :)

The only one who was maybe a little sad about the cleanup was the dog. Lucy's part labrador and she LOVED going thru the trash to find "toys" to play with, which of course ended up all over the yard. No more old paint rollers for you, suckah! Ha ha!

One down, ten billion to go

So, what to do on the first sunny Saturday since the mid-18th century? (Ok, maybe it wasn't really that long, but it felt like it. anyhoooow.) What to do, you ask? Why, get thee to the woods, of course.
Yep, I can knock one thing off my to-do list for the month. Davey and I put on our hiking boots, grabbed our hiking sticks and strapped the kiddo to our (his, cause she's getting soooo heavy) chest, and went exploring. And I have to say, we bought ourselves a super sweet piece o' land. I wish I had remembered to take the camera, but I was too freakin excited about being outdoors. There are about 5 creeks (some wet-weather, others spring fed) that converge in our front field, hence the mucho flooding we've had down there. Definitely going to need to dig the pond out deeper and/or do some serious groundwork. The whole ridge dumps it's water there.
Just past the pond/field, there is this really beautiful little valley crisscrossed with streams and pretty trees (including a GIANT ironwood, which is one of my favorite trees. Love!) and two little hills covered in vinca, which this spring will have lovely blue flowers all over them. Seriously, this spot feels downright magical. Someday Davey and I want to build a guest cabin, and this is totally the spot. We'll also need to build a few bridges for easier access. Creekhopping with a suitcase might be a little rough on some folks.
Further back in the woods it gets pretty steep and hilly, just lots of trees and QUIET. We found an old deer feeder, and a dead coyote. I don't think the two were related. Aside from the coyote, which was fortunately still frozen, so no stinky, it's really gorgeous land. I still can't believe we own it. Seeing how awesome it is makes the house seem a little more worth it.
We spent the rest of Saturday cleaning out the chicken coop so it's ready for chickens in the spring. We found out that chicks are available at the co-op on March 8th. That's like, a week and a half away!
Also on Saturday (it was a Big Day), our cows got here! And (gulp) they are so cute! They're little black and white holstein steers, still just calves. I mostly try to keep my distance from them, because I know that if I really wanted to, I could get attached to them. Still, it's nice to look out the window and see them grazing in our pasture. I feel very self-reliant and farm-y. I like it.

It will be interesting over the next 6 months or so to have this relationship with my food, rather than just going and buying the finished product. It makes me realize the value of my food a lot more, at the very least. Hmmm.. There will be more on this subject again, I'm sure. In the meantime, another weekend is here. Time to accomplish something. I just love a good sense of accomplishment.

"For five hundred years I've walked the world of men and now I have no time..."

(Oh yeah, I just quoted me some Gandalf. You know you love it.)

Perhaps the #1 challenge I've faced since jumping into the role of Mom has been time management. It's never exacty been my forte. For one thing, I'm the world's most terrible procrastinator. Never do today what you can put off til tomorrow. It's made me an excellent multitasker, but it's also led to a 'crash and burn' more than once as I tried to bake all 50 dozen of those yummy Christmas cookies in one night (oh yes, I've tried). That was how I got things done. Waaaaaiiit, and then work myself to death. I've not been able to function that way since Punkin was born. Actually, since before she was born. But to be fair, when I was pregnant, I pretty much couldn't handle doing anything except maybe getting dressed in the morning and puking.

So, in the midst of all the crazy that is going on I'm trying to learn how to keep everything going, get everything done, and still somehow, maybe get some sleep every once in a while. Sadly, my need for sleep has increased since I turned 30 (it's because I'm old now) and I can't just stay up all night hammering away at a necklace or working on Punkin's quilt. There was a time, but those days are long gone. (See, this changed from an "I have no time" rant to an "I'm getting old" rant. Fun, huh?)

So today, I am making myself a list (I adore making lists) of things I want to get done in the next month. And then I'm going to do them, dammit.

1. For starters, I'm going to take a walk in the woods we bought 2 months ago and I have yet to walk in. I don't even know what the back of our property looks like. But to be fair, some of that is because of the stupid weather we've been having. It's like it's winter or something.

2. Paint the bathrooms. This should have been done already. It's gonna happen. It's GOT to happen.

3. UNPACK. FINALLY.

4. Use my brand new sewing machine that I've had since last Christmas for the first time, and by doing so finish Punkin's quilt.

5. Give my kid lots of hugs and kisses. Oh wait. Check.

6. Make time for friends, and not care if the house is messy over the weekend.

7. Go to the mountains! Punkin hasn't been to the mountains yet. That is inexcusable.

8. Rent a dumpster and un-redneck the yard. For real.


I'm afraid to add any more, because already I feel my palms getting all sweaty. Eww.
Moving on.

I have started trying to keep my hands busy at night while the blasted TV is on (pretty much this whole rant could be discarded if I would just shoot the damn thing already) and I've made some fun little baby slippers from a pattern I bought on Etsy:






I used to not understand why people were always making baby things, but now that I have my own kid, I totally get it. In fact, I don't know why I didn't have a line of baby hats and mittens and slippers before (not to mention that baby sizes are so much faster! Bonus!) I have yet to incorporate kid stuff in my jewelry, but then, I have yet to make any jewelry, so it will be interesting to see how being a mom colors that creative process. I'm sure it will somehow. Maybe some sweet and simple baby birthstone necklaces? We'll see.

crafty things

Snow snow snow! The Florida girl in me still gets all worked up when there's snow on the ground. I don't think it will ever lose it's magic for me. And what a great view to enjoy with my morning coffee!

So this past weekend I was getting myself all worked up to start painting one of the 3 bathrooms in the new house, so I could finally hang some towel bars and what not(not to mention cover up that disgusting wallpaper). Naturally that meant that Saturday morning I would wake up with the mother of all migraines. And migraines and oil-based primer do nooooot mix. I blame it on staying up too late to watch the slooooooooow opening ceremonies in Vancouver (though I admit I liked the whole punk celtic fiddler thing. FUN.) Anyhoo, I ended up spending pretty much the whole weekend camped out on the couch, watching the olympics and working on crafty things. So, not a bad weekend after all. In fact, pretty flippin' sweet.
First, I did some work on a pile of hat orders I've gotten in the last few weeks. Managed to get 3 of 5 completed before my poor wrist gave out on me. Some of these hats weren't as enjoyable to make as others because I didn't pick out the yarn, and well, I think they're just ugly. But then I'm not the one who has to wear them. Here's one I actually like:


Pretty sweet.

I also finally got the mobile made for Punkin's room, 3 months or so late. I got the pattern for the birdies on design*sponge, one of my fave websites, ages and ages ago. Probably the best fun of this project was foraging in my woods (I have woods!)for the branches to perch the birdies on. It took me forever to the the whole thing balanced just right, but I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out:

Isn't it cute? I got the fabric on Etsy, and someday, someday, there will be a quilt and other things to match. In the meantime I feel like it was a huge accomplishment just to get this done.

Firsts

Whew. So it's been like, forever since posting anything. But to be fair, I've been hella busy. For starters, I birthed a human being in November (I was kinda hoping it would be a kitten, but the kid turned out pretty cute, so I'm not too disappointed), and then we bought our first house. And oh, boy howdy, what a house.

First let me give a little background info. I love houses, interior design, decorating and the like. Always have. I dreamed of my first house the way some girls dream of their first wedding. I drool over magazine photos, design websites, and the home decor section at Target like nobodies business. For real. I always wanted a farmhouse, or an old turn of the century craftsman, something with character and charm. Two years ago when my husband and I moved to Kingston, we rented our first house. While it was neither a farmhouse or craftsman style, it did have one thing going for it - it was BRAND FREAKIN' NEW. Literally they finished it up 2 days before we moved in. And it was so nice and clean and fresh and pretty! I could write love songs about the kitchen in that place. Despite the fact that it was a rental, I loved it as if it were my own. Not good. When we found out that the kiddo was on the way, we realized that A. Child care is ridiculously expensive, B. my mom could watch our kid for free, C. she lived 45 minutes away, and D. this house was just a wee bit too small. Long story short, we kicked around all sorts of ideas, from moving in with my parents (and thank GOD we didn't choose that route) to building a tiny cabin on their land. And then in this total miracle/coincidence/God thing, the farm up the road from my parents was going to be forclosed on, and we could get it for cheap. It solved the big problem of child care, and also gave us 10+ acres of land with a creek, a pond, and a spring, 2 fenced in pastures, and a chicken coop to boot. Score! Downside - the house. A ten-year-old beat-down doublewide trailer with the most idiotic kitchen design I've ever seen. Total 180 from my beautiful brand spankin' new house with awesome kitchen. Let's just say that moving involved a whole lotta tears.

So now we're in this new house, and I'm trying to be grateful. And trying to figure out how to make it livable on the cheap, because we've got that new baby and all. There's so much to be done. Pretty much EVERYTHING needs to be renovated and/or repaired. And the kitchen needs to be completely redone. Case and point, the master bath:

Just check out that wallpaper! And oh yeah, that's carpet. In the BATHROOM. And please note that that's the previous owner's gold angel statue.

Also, they were hardcore smokers, as evidenced by the visible nicotine on the livingroom walls:

Again, NOT my furniture. But we've since painted the walls and shampooed the carpet, and it's looking a lot better.

So this is what I'm up against, and what is consuming all my free time, when I have any free time, which I don't. But I'm trying to turn the whole thing into an adventure, and hopefully soon I'll have some "after" photos to share. In fact, I'm hoping that by posting this on here, it will motivate me a little more. It could happen.

And now for something completely awesome:

Miss Abigail Punkin. This kid totally knows she's cute. Waaaaay cuter than a kitten.