Hi guys!
Spring Break and today was just beautiful! My schedule got changed around this week to accommodate those who were going out of town and I got Friday off. I haven't had Friday off in over a year, and I gotta say, I really enjoyed this one. (to clarify, I got of Christmas and New Year's, but those weren't really typical Fridays). Friday is Pizza Day. It has been for about 11 years or so. Back in the day, I always made everything from scratch and we would put whatever we had in the fridge or pantry on our pizzas. We have had some really interesting treats. But when I started working Friday's, I had to start buying pizzas because there just wasn't time between getting home from work and bed time to make dough from scratch and really enjoy the process. But not today...today we are having homemade pizza, and they smell quite yummy.
Also on my lovely day, I planted some potatoes and broccoli/cabbage/cauliflower and fenced the chickens out of the asparagus bed. They think it's quite tasty as well, but I'm just not willing to give up 6 weeks of garden fresh, home grown organic asparagus to them. Not this year. I bound an afghan (I know, right?) for a client who thought it needed a more "finished" look. That was a little weird, but there was a paycheck involved, so I did it. I baked a couple of loaves of Italian Herb Bread and made a failed batch of Mozzarella cheese. I know this sounds sad, but a failed batch of mozzarella is a delightful batch of ricotta. So all is well.
Plus, I met a wonderful lady at the shop yesterday. A kindred spirit! Her name is Debbie too and she told me that the name "Debbie" means busy bee. I always knew the bee part, but never occurred to me the ramifications of that. She teaches homesteading classes so of course we hit it off really well and went off on a rambling conversation involving goats, chickens and cheese making. She has invited me over to see what I'm doing wrong in my cheese endeavors so hopefully by this time next week, I'll be an official cheese maker. Wish me luck.
The pizza is done and C is getting plates out and DH is wandering around with a hungry look on his face so I better skedaddle.
Peace,
Deb
Friday, March 19, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Quick Note
Hi all,
here's a quick update on what's been happening. Well, it's been really cold and wet and snowy this winter. We had the first White Christmas in 82 years AND we had a record setting snow fall a few weeks ago. 9 inches of snow in North Texas. Never before recorded. So that was pretty cool. Of course, that's made my gardening pretty difficult. I was off of work today and the sun was shining so I got outside and started my fall clean up chores. I cleared all the dead vines of the side of the garage and the fence, weeded one of the front beds and started clearing out all of the wood splitting debris. I'm taking it to the west side of the property where the ground is lower and starting to fill in holes. Maybe I'll get enough over there so it won't flood when it rains. I guess that's a few years worth of wood chips. One of my good friend's husband is a landscape architect and he came over and measured the front and side yard and is drawing me up an edible landscape design. I told him lots of heirlooms and edibles, and I wanted it to look very cottage-y. I traded for it by altering a few of their daughter's dresses (prom, etc) so it was a good deal. I'm hoping for several berry bushes and quite a few dwarf fruit trees. It's all so exciting! After they left, I headed back outside and finished up clearing off the back patio. Over the winter it just becomes a catch all and gets pretty cluttered. It is somewhat presentable now. I'll need to get new chair cushions and an umbrella for the table this year.
I've been looking at truck that's for sale up at the local gas station. It's a wicked cool 1973 Ford F100 pickup. It's an awesome green that matches my eyes. A girl's gotta have a truck that matches her eyes. I'm meeting the owner at it on Monday to look it over, start her up and maybe discuss his asking price. He said it was negiotiable, and that's good, because we think it's pretty high. I've been praying about it and feel like if it's the plan, than things will work out. This will be MY truck and then C can take the Kia Rio back to school with her in the fall. It's been a difficult year with her not having one. I've only seen her 3 times since August, parent's weekend, thanksgiving and Christmas. Spring break starts next friday. She always has to bum a ride with someone, and so far, her friends have been quite good about hauling her around, but she's not able to get a job or visit home or any of those things and I can't afford to take off of work to go down and get her. Hopefully, this truck thing will work out and we can all have a vehicle. And she could even get a job over the summer. I guess we'll see what happens. Cross your fingers for me.
Other than that, I'm just sewing like a maniac both on shop samples (I have 5 of them right now) and also on repairs AND on machine quilting jobs. It's a busy life these days.
I guess that's about it. I suppose I should get back to the sewing room. DH wpn't be home til after 10, so I have a few more hours of sewing time. Or maybe I'll just go read. It's so very tempting.
:)
here's a quick update on what's been happening. Well, it's been really cold and wet and snowy this winter. We had the first White Christmas in 82 years AND we had a record setting snow fall a few weeks ago. 9 inches of snow in North Texas. Never before recorded. So that was pretty cool. Of course, that's made my gardening pretty difficult. I was off of work today and the sun was shining so I got outside and started my fall clean up chores. I cleared all the dead vines of the side of the garage and the fence, weeded one of the front beds and started clearing out all of the wood splitting debris. I'm taking it to the west side of the property where the ground is lower and starting to fill in holes. Maybe I'll get enough over there so it won't flood when it rains. I guess that's a few years worth of wood chips. One of my good friend's husband is a landscape architect and he came over and measured the front and side yard and is drawing me up an edible landscape design. I told him lots of heirlooms and edibles, and I wanted it to look very cottage-y. I traded for it by altering a few of their daughter's dresses (prom, etc) so it was a good deal. I'm hoping for several berry bushes and quite a few dwarf fruit trees. It's all so exciting! After they left, I headed back outside and finished up clearing off the back patio. Over the winter it just becomes a catch all and gets pretty cluttered. It is somewhat presentable now. I'll need to get new chair cushions and an umbrella for the table this year.
I've been looking at truck that's for sale up at the local gas station. It's a wicked cool 1973 Ford F100 pickup. It's an awesome green that matches my eyes. A girl's gotta have a truck that matches her eyes. I'm meeting the owner at it on Monday to look it over, start her up and maybe discuss his asking price. He said it was negiotiable, and that's good, because we think it's pretty high. I've been praying about it and feel like if it's the plan, than things will work out. This will be MY truck and then C can take the Kia Rio back to school with her in the fall. It's been a difficult year with her not having one. I've only seen her 3 times since August, parent's weekend, thanksgiving and Christmas. Spring break starts next friday. She always has to bum a ride with someone, and so far, her friends have been quite good about hauling her around, but she's not able to get a job or visit home or any of those things and I can't afford to take off of work to go down and get her. Hopefully, this truck thing will work out and we can all have a vehicle. And she could even get a job over the summer. I guess we'll see what happens. Cross your fingers for me.
Other than that, I'm just sewing like a maniac both on shop samples (I have 5 of them right now) and also on repairs AND on machine quilting jobs. It's a busy life these days.
I guess that's about it. I suppose I should get back to the sewing room. DH wpn't be home til after 10, so I have a few more hours of sewing time. Or maybe I'll just go read. It's so very tempting.
:)
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
techno Deb
So, I'm attempting, still to circumvent my camera and load pictures another way. I don't have time to sit and mess with my phone to get it configured with Blogspot. Each time I try, it tells me that the system may be down and to try again later. I just don't have that kind of time. So, today, I popped the micro sd card out of my phone, put it in the adapter and plugged it into the computer. I will now try to upload straight from the micro sd card without having to upload them to the computer. Poor thing has too much crap on it anyway.
Here goes nothing. :)
Holy Crap! It worked! That's excellent!
Ok Mom, you will now get to see pictures that everyone else sees on Facebook. :)
This is the Grotto. Or part of it. I took this after we painted the bench, so that's really what I was photographing, but you can see part of the Grotto.
Anyway, it's not even 7am, but I've been awake since 4. Thought I'd have time to mess around with the photo thing.
Gotta get busy.
peace,
Deb
Here goes nothing. :)
Holy Crap! It worked! That's excellent!
Ok Mom, you will now get to see pictures that everyone else sees on Facebook. :)
This is the Grotto. Or part of it. I took this after we painted the bench, so that's really what I was photographing, but you can see part of the Grotto.
Anyway, it's not even 7am, but I've been awake since 4. Thought I'd have time to mess around with the photo thing.
Gotta get busy.
peace,
Deb
Monday, November 30, 2009
Thanks were given
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was very nice. C was home for the holidays. I had her from late Tuesday night til Sunday afternoon. Now she's back at school and taking her finals. I can't believe that her semester is almost over. Time just went by so fast. So now, what I need to do before she comes home in 2 weeks is quilt all the tops that I need quilted by mid December. I have my quilting frame set up in her room and I promised her that I would remove it during Christmas break. Having it in there for 4 days was not a big deal, but 4 weeks...well, that's a different story.
I didn't get much done while she was home so today I've got to hit it pretty hard. Already working on the daily & weekly house chores, but I also need to baste 2 quilts for hand quilting for a friend. I can do that on my quilting machine. It will give me a chance to practice loading/floating a quilt top. I'm still pretty slow when it comes to getting the quilt actually loaded on the machine. Then I've got a flannel quilt top that's just for the living room, but we sure need the flannel quilts in there over winter. I'm also working on some baby bedding for a friend of Chris'. She used to manage a Starbucks, but has since left to be a stay at home mom. She's due in February, but the dr says that the baby might come by Christmas, so that's a priority.
My son starts his dream job today at Nintendo. He's wanted this since he was 4, so that's not a bad deal. I'm so happy for him. :)
Well, I guess I should get away from this electronic stalling machine and get busy. Laundry to fold, trash to take out and a kitchen to straighten up. A cold front came through yesterday, so I need to clean the fireplace and bring in some wood as well. And I'm sure a bunch more stuff that I've forgotten.
Peace,
D
I didn't get much done while she was home so today I've got to hit it pretty hard. Already working on the daily & weekly house chores, but I also need to baste 2 quilts for hand quilting for a friend. I can do that on my quilting machine. It will give me a chance to practice loading/floating a quilt top. I'm still pretty slow when it comes to getting the quilt actually loaded on the machine. Then I've got a flannel quilt top that's just for the living room, but we sure need the flannel quilts in there over winter. I'm also working on some baby bedding for a friend of Chris'. She used to manage a Starbucks, but has since left to be a stay at home mom. She's due in February, but the dr says that the baby might come by Christmas, so that's a priority.
My son starts his dream job today at Nintendo. He's wanted this since he was 4, so that's not a bad deal. I'm so happy for him. :)
Well, I guess I should get away from this electronic stalling machine and get busy. Laundry to fold, trash to take out and a kitchen to straighten up. A cold front came through yesterday, so I need to clean the fireplace and bring in some wood as well. And I'm sure a bunch more stuff that I've forgotten.
Peace,
D
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Getting things done
Look at this! 2 days in a row. lol. I guess if I do all my computer stuff all at once I'm in good shape. :)
Yesterday was a busy day. Started off doing regular Monday chores, changing sheets, taking out the trash, etc. I pulled some chicken backs and wings out of the freezer and started some stock so I'd have enough for Thanksgiving. I'm always amazed at how much stock I use with that meal. It's still bubbling away in my crockpot. I let it simmer for 24 hours before I strain it and can it. It makes the house smell so good! The next item on the list was working on a quilt repair. I'm so close to being done that I can almost taste it. 5 more patches to replace and it's finished. I'll do that today. I worked on it 2 hours yesterday. Then a lovely neighbor came over with his wood splitter and we worked for an hour on one of the piles of wood to get it split and stacked. He and his friend split and I stacked. We got quite a bit done, 3 stacks 4 feet tall and 9 feet wide. That got us about halfway through one of the the 3 piles of wood in the backyard. I guess we had way more than I thought we did. I need to get the ax sharpened next time the scissor man is at the shop. We still have a long way to go. Now that DH is only working one job, he'll have more time to work on the pile, but I thought I'd get him started.
Next I worked on a Christmas gift for a while and then it was about time to start dinner. DH had to work late last night, so I cooked a nice meal just for me which I think is always weird. But he has to come home sometimes and having a nice plate of food waiting is the best welcome home.
After that, I switched over to working on the shop sample for the Civil War Tribute quilt block of the month. I volunteered to make it since I can't afford to sign up for the BOM. I make it, I keep it. Those are the new rules. I made 2 blocks last night which was all of month one. I'll cut out month 2 this afternoon and work on it this evening. I put my handcrank on the coffee table and sat in front of the fireplace while I worked. It was nice. Our very first fire.
Cold front came in. It's 38 degrees right now. Lucky for me I have a cat in my lap.
I need to get busy. I'm going to finish that repair job, meet with another client about baby bedding and start cutting down the asparagus ferns. My gardening book says to cut them down when they turn brown in the late summer/fall, but they never do. I guess November 17th is late enough. After that, it will be Civil War blocks and maybe I'll dig through my own pile for a quick project and get that taken care of.
Have a great day!
Yesterday was a busy day. Started off doing regular Monday chores, changing sheets, taking out the trash, etc. I pulled some chicken backs and wings out of the freezer and started some stock so I'd have enough for Thanksgiving. I'm always amazed at how much stock I use with that meal. It's still bubbling away in my crockpot. I let it simmer for 24 hours before I strain it and can it. It makes the house smell so good! The next item on the list was working on a quilt repair. I'm so close to being done that I can almost taste it. 5 more patches to replace and it's finished. I'll do that today. I worked on it 2 hours yesterday. Then a lovely neighbor came over with his wood splitter and we worked for an hour on one of the piles of wood to get it split and stacked. He and his friend split and I stacked. We got quite a bit done, 3 stacks 4 feet tall and 9 feet wide. That got us about halfway through one of the the 3 piles of wood in the backyard. I guess we had way more than I thought we did. I need to get the ax sharpened next time the scissor man is at the shop. We still have a long way to go. Now that DH is only working one job, he'll have more time to work on the pile, but I thought I'd get him started.
Next I worked on a Christmas gift for a while and then it was about time to start dinner. DH had to work late last night, so I cooked a nice meal just for me which I think is always weird. But he has to come home sometimes and having a nice plate of food waiting is the best welcome home.
After that, I switched over to working on the shop sample for the Civil War Tribute quilt block of the month. I volunteered to make it since I can't afford to sign up for the BOM. I make it, I keep it. Those are the new rules. I made 2 blocks last night which was all of month one. I'll cut out month 2 this afternoon and work on it this evening. I put my handcrank on the coffee table and sat in front of the fireplace while I worked. It was nice. Our very first fire.
Cold front came in. It's 38 degrees right now. Lucky for me I have a cat in my lap.
I need to get busy. I'm going to finish that repair job, meet with another client about baby bedding and start cutting down the asparagus ferns. My gardening book says to cut them down when they turn brown in the late summer/fall, but they never do. I guess November 17th is late enough. After that, it will be Civil War blocks and maybe I'll dig through my own pile for a quick project and get that taken care of.
Have a great day!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Flying through the holidays
It certainly has been a while. As fast as I thought life was speeding by at the first of the year, it's certainly picked up it's pace. The last 3 weeks have been filled with making samples for our "Quiltapolooza" at the shop. I don't have pictures yet since everything was top secret. The event was yesterday afternoon and was a great success! We had twice the amount of folks there than we had at our first one. And the biggest surprise was revealed. We've acquired the space next door and are expanding our shop. We'll have a really nice kit cutting and storage area, plus a classroom to seat up to 20, which is amazing. Our old classroom will become notions, patterns and books and the rest of the new space will be for fabric. It's all very exciting. I'm also the "internet marketing director" which means I'm the only employee at the shop who knows how to use Facebook and Twitter, so I've established accounts for the shop.
Personally, I'm trying to keep up with things and stay ahead of the holidays. I'm using the FLY lady system, which is awesome. She has a program "Cruising through the Holidays" in which you imagine that you'll be going on a 3 week cruise starting Dec 1, and you need to have everything ready for Christmas before you go. It's a 15 minute a day task and it works.
My son and his wife have moved to Seattle and have both found jobs. My son got his dream job at Nintendo, something he's wanted since he was 4. We're all happy for that. C is doing amazingly well in college, and has been told if her grades stay where they are through the end of the semester, she'll qualify for the Honors Program, which is awesome. We're VERY proud of her.
Today, I catch my breath and try to prepare for the week. I've got a really busy schedule besides working, so I really need to be on top of my game in regards to laundry, household chores and meal plan/prep. It's so much harder when I don't have someone here to help me out. I can't just text C and tell her I'm running late and would she start dinner.
Off to chore land, and then I need to make stock for Thanksgiving, finish a repair job and load a quilt that I'm basting for hand quilting. Besides decluttering my utensil drawer, changing sheets, blah, blah, blah. :)
Oh, I'm also working on (in the evenings) a crocheted rug for the living room. It's so chilly in there in the winter, I'm hoping it will help insulate the wood floor a little. The dog likes it.
Stay busy out there!
peace
Personally, I'm trying to keep up with things and stay ahead of the holidays. I'm using the FLY lady system, which is awesome. She has a program "Cruising through the Holidays" in which you imagine that you'll be going on a 3 week cruise starting Dec 1, and you need to have everything ready for Christmas before you go. It's a 15 minute a day task and it works.
My son and his wife have moved to Seattle and have both found jobs. My son got his dream job at Nintendo, something he's wanted since he was 4. We're all happy for that. C is doing amazingly well in college, and has been told if her grades stay where they are through the end of the semester, she'll qualify for the Honors Program, which is awesome. We're VERY proud of her.
Today, I catch my breath and try to prepare for the week. I've got a really busy schedule besides working, so I really need to be on top of my game in regards to laundry, household chores and meal plan/prep. It's so much harder when I don't have someone here to help me out. I can't just text C and tell her I'm running late and would she start dinner.
Off to chore land, and then I need to make stock for Thanksgiving, finish a repair job and load a quilt that I'm basting for hand quilting. Besides decluttering my utensil drawer, changing sheets, blah, blah, blah. :)
Oh, I'm also working on (in the evenings) a crocheted rug for the living room. It's so chilly in there in the winter, I'm hoping it will help insulate the wood floor a little. The dog likes it.
Stay busy out there!
peace
Thursday, October 1, 2009
photos of things
It has been brought to my attention that I no longer post photos on my blog. I'm working on the whole "uploading from my phone thing" but in lieu of that, I took some photos with my actual camera this morning and will now post them for all to see. :)
This is my quilting machine set up. It's my new baby. I have quilted a lap quilt on it already, but I forgot to take a picture of that. I'll do that later. The frame is a Handi Quilter frame and the machine is a Juki TL98Q. It's a mid arm quilting machine and I love it. I've been baby-ing some tendonitis this week. In my efforts to get everything set up and ready for the machine to arrive, I sorta over did it. Luckily I already had a quilt loaded before it got too bad, so I at least got to play Monday afternoon. I'll be buying some more batting and loading another this weekend. I have all these quilt tops, some even with backings ready to go. AND NO BATTING! It's a tradegy.
This is "the Grotto". It is the time sink in my back yard. You can see that I have planted some lettuce up in the bio filter that my nephew and his friend put together. The neighborhood squirrel likes lettuce. I supervised the bio filter project. Rocks are heavy. The filter was the first structure added to the sad little pond. Then my nephew and my son dug out the flower beds and trimmed the crepe myrtle and pruned back the trees. They even did the rock border for me. We spread the mulch and then I couldn't find anything to plant. Too early for fall/winter plants and too late for summer plants. So herbs in pots and a bird house are the decoration right now. The next project is cleaning up the dog run that you can see behind the pond and painting the bench swing. We're working out from this corner.
This is my quilting machine set up. It's my new baby. I have quilted a lap quilt on it already, but I forgot to take a picture of that. I'll do that later. The frame is a Handi Quilter frame and the machine is a Juki TL98Q. It's a mid arm quilting machine and I love it. I've been baby-ing some tendonitis this week. In my efforts to get everything set up and ready for the machine to arrive, I sorta over did it. Luckily I already had a quilt loaded before it got too bad, so I at least got to play Monday afternoon. I'll be buying some more batting and loading another this weekend. I have all these quilt tops, some even with backings ready to go. AND NO BATTING! It's a tradegy.
This is "the Grotto". It is the time sink in my back yard. You can see that I have planted some lettuce up in the bio filter that my nephew and his friend put together. The neighborhood squirrel likes lettuce. I supervised the bio filter project. Rocks are heavy. The filter was the first structure added to the sad little pond. Then my nephew and my son dug out the flower beds and trimmed the crepe myrtle and pruned back the trees. They even did the rock border for me. We spread the mulch and then I couldn't find anything to plant. Too early for fall/winter plants and too late for summer plants. So herbs in pots and a bird house are the decoration right now. The next project is cleaning up the dog run that you can see behind the pond and painting the bench swing. We're working out from this corner.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)