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.