Loose Threads...

You know how they say to not pull a loose thread because the whole sweater will unravel?  No, well take my word for it.  They say that.  Well I pulled the thread and...

• My husband fell off the roof and broke his foot (Which is not so unusual.  Our family timeline is actually defined by his injuries.  For example:  How long have we had the refrigerator?  Hmmm, let me think...did we get it the year you broke your face on the snowmobile or shattered your sternum falling off the Wal-Mart?  OR  When was the last time you saw your friend, Bloobidy Bloo?  Oh, that was either the year I got crushed by the sheet metal or the time I caught my hand in the thingy at the mill.  
• And then...the fences fell down and the goats fell out of their field.  Just...plop...fell right out.  They were EVERYWHERE.  Still are, fence won't stay up.  Whatever.  
• Matty got a double ear infection.  
• We found out that there was a problem with the Big Teenager's financial aid for college and we're just keeping our fingers crossed that it works out.  We'll know for sure on the 30th.  School starts the 31st.  
• The Little Teenager made the varsity cheering squad.  This is an unraveling, trust me.  Fundraisers, sweatshirts, fleeces, rides to school-every-day.  UNRAVELED.  
• The cat has something.  I don't know what.  It might just be laziness because all he does is eat and sleep.  Yeah, we'll just cross that one off.  I'm sure he's fine.  
• Jake found a carcass.  No further explanation.  
• There was a big brown rat in the chicken house and one night when I closed the little chicken door, it jumped out while my hand was right there.  I almost touched a rat.  
• There was a big DEAD brown rat in my yard after he ate some poison.  
• My cucumbers got away from me and are now the size of....big brown rats?  They're big.  

So there you go.  I'm standing in the middle of this big pile of  crinkly yarn and I don't even know how to knit.  

Oh, I forgot...I pulled up some weeds in the front yard this morning and now I have a lovely smattering of poison ivy blisters on my wrist.  

But other than that...we're doing great.  

Smiles,

Lisa

 

What Happens Next?

Since coming home from my vacation at the cottage, I've been in a bit of a funk.  Things there were so simple.   Get up, start the stove for food and hot water, eat, clean, straighten up the six chairs in the living room, sweep the bark from the floor, get the stove ready for lunch....

Then I come home and am bombarded by all these things that I have surrounded myself with.  Kids, animals, craft projects, books.... It is overwhelming and kind of depressing.  I go on and on about how I would like to simplify but I never do it.  But simple makes me feel good, so I really don't have a choice now do I?

Now, I cannot just pick up and move my family to the woods...(most of them wouldn't come anyway), I have to figure something else out.  I need to PRIORITIZE.  I am wincing here, that's a swear word if I ever heard one.  And in the spirit of my new endeavor...I will keep my priorities simple.

1.  Family
2.  Home
3.  Creativity
4.  Finances

I'm thinking of going with a Less Is More theme.  So I'm getting rid of a few kids.  KIDDING.  They all can stay...well except for the one going to college next month.

Opening her graduation present- an IPOD all sparkling and new.  

So here is my SIMPLIFY BOX, yes it's a cardboard Huggies box.  It may be like trying to save the Titanic with a tea cup, but I am going to fill this box every day for a month and donate it to Goodwill.  I am not going to think about value or how much I could sell the item for on eBay.  There is more worth in my goal then in my potential Paypal account.

When I am done, I would like to be left with the things that I truly love.  And then I will start on my shop.  Remember this?

Ok, so maybe two months and a bigger box.  Anyone have one of those freight containers I could borrow?

Wish me luck,
Lisa

Home From the Sea

We started out with eight brave souls.  By the third day we were down five.   All boys...they were bored and went home.  So we girls did things like recreate the Victorian photos found on the wall of the cottage.  You know...normal stuff.

I cooked a half of a turkey in the Star Kineo cook stove and while it was cooking (five hours!) I made cake donuts.

And Jake tried to herd fishing boats and seals.  They were about as cooperative as the goats.

We played a rousing game of The Flintstones Game.  Highly recommended.

Just in case you thought their mirth was due to good wholesome fun...they were laughing at the game pieces...which they oh-so-sensitively called "The Hitler Youth".  Horrible children.

We dug some clams...and ate them and ate them and ate them...

But mostly we just disconnected, read books, walked along the shore and tried to appreciate the quiet and beauty of this kind of raw place.  There was no electricity or running water.  There was limited cell service and no 3G, but so much more than all of that.  When you wake to ocean waves your day can not be bad.

Here's the website for the cottage.  Ross Cottage

Smiles,
Lisa

Little Bud Lobster Pants

Here are Little Bud's shorts that he would have worn if our picnic had not been cancelled due to rain.  Yes, they are made from tablecloth fabric.  But, I mean, really, how cute.

I made them from this pattern with some changes.  I did not put in the fly or button closure and opted for a faux fly and an elastic back for comfort and ease of changing.

Now we need to find another social event for which lobster pants are required.

Have a safe and happy Fourth!

Smiles,
Lisa

This Little Guy Could Use Some Help...

The first thing I thought of when I read this article was that this could have been my youngest daughter.  She was is always doing stuff like this.  And even though she's 15, I remember what her little hands looked like at 5.  if you can help with just a dollar or two, I'm sure it would mean the world to this family.

Summer Orange

Orange, it's not just for Fall anymore....

1.  New handmade skirt with purchased orange T-shirt
2.  Orange Cat
3.  Orange bowl with garlic
4.  Tiger Lily bouquet 
5.  Orange Chicken
6.  New goat hoof trimmers
7.  100 feet of orange garden hose
8.  Orange spools
9.  Two orange marbles

Pattern Storage Revisited...

I went to the auction yesterday, but didn't really feel like spending money.  Yeah, I know that doesn't make sense.  But sometimes auctions can be like free museums of the truly odd and weird.  Cheap entertainment!  If I was going to buy anything it was going to be something to organize the junk that I already own, so I bought a weathered shelf for $2.00.  At this particular auction, if you ask for something to be separated from the lot, the price starts at $10.00.  Well, that's too rich for my blood.  So I usually wait for no one to bid and the price to go down to $1.00 before I start.  It's a complicated process.  But anyway,  this lot came up and I really wanted  one of those round pattern display things.

But I didn't want to pay $10.00 for it.  So I asked the guy who ended up buying the whole lot for $5.00, if I could buy one rack for $5.00 rendering him getting all that crap for free.  He had to think about it.  I know...auction people can be odd and weird.  Present company included.  Finally he agreed and I got my one rack.

So with a little bit of paint and a printed copy of a needle card for the display slot on the top-I have a lovely storage solution for my favorite vintage patterns.  Because believe it or not, that four-drawer dresser is full and I need more storage space for the patterns.  I guess I could have bought the Simplicity case, but it's kind of ugly.

Oh!  It swivels.  I don't know why but I like things that swivel.  (See aforementioned odd and weird comment).  

Smiles,

Lisa

Fifteen Years

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It is my anniversary and I didn't even know it.  The years go by so quickly.  I remember that day like it was yesterday.  It was early evening and I had sat down at my computer and unhooked the telephone line and connected the phone line into the back of the machine.  To do this I had to get down on hands and knees, pull the cord tight and make sure to remember to step over it when I got up to go to the bathroom.  Then I pressed the button to connect.  America Online.  But before the pixelated logo came up on my screen, I had to listen to the screech and static of the connection.  Connecting-connecting-connecting-connecting-no seriously-connecting.  Pop.  There it is.  You've Got Mail.

On that summer evening in 1997, I was just beginning a very voracious habit of collecting vintage Barbie Dolls.  I was 27.  I was a member of an AOL Board dedicated to Vintage Barbies. I kept reading about something called eBay.  I went there.  I signed up and the rest is history.  I sold my first item.  A Malibu Barbie.  I laid her on my scanner for the picture.  She sold for double what I paid.

I only use eBay for printer ink and the occasional sewing supply now.  Gone are the days of breathless anticipation, waiting to see if you "won".  Oh nostalgia.

At least I have this.

No, I didn't download the eBay Community Member Anniversary Certificate to proudly display, even though I earned it.  If "earning it" means signing up 15 years ago and occasionally buying past date flea medication or buttons in bulk.  

Still, it's an honor.  Please don't feel obligated to send gifts.  After all, my 20th is coming right up.  

The Last Day

I found this nest in my driveway today.  There were no bits of egg shells or tiny feathers left.  No evidence left at all that a mother bird had built it and laid her eggs and hatched them.  Now they were all gone.  She had pushed them out of the nest and let them fall or fly.  Then she pushed the little home out of the tree so that they would have no reason to come back.  I wonder if she sat there and thought about the last day?   Did she feel sad that this part of her life was over?  Did she know exactly when she was going to let them go?  Did she count down the days, marking X's on a little bird calendar, watching the date and time approach with an equal amount of happiness, fear and heartbreaking sadness?

Today this little girl came home from her very last day of high school.  There are many-many days ahead full of new experiences and people and a whole wonderful life ahead of her.  Days that seem immeasurable and unending from where she stands right now.  I only hope she treasures each experience and doesn't wait until the last day to reflect on what it all meant.  

Now, if you will please excuse me.  I have to dry my tears and hire a bulldozer to rip this place APART.  What? I need to make sure she has no reason to come back.  That's what the best mothers do.  It's nature, damn it.

I love you, Kass and am very proud of who you have become.  You will fly.

The One Where Chi-Chi Rides a Turtle...

I am usually pretty good at handling things.  But sometimes, well sometimes I just don't know what to do.  


This guy was in the goat pen this morning.

He's a snapper.  Or most likely SHE'S a snappper.  I assume she's looking for a place to lay eggs.  So I should probably just leave her alone, right?  


Well, I don't have a problem with that.  Some of the others?  Well they are all in it for themselves and knowing there may be a possibility of a cookie or two, they forego common courtesy and possibly their own safety.  Did I  mention SNAPPING in describing this visitor.  As in SNAP.    

And not Ginger Snaps.  


Well maybe they'll leave her alone and no one will be bothered.  

Or not.  Most likely not.  Unless she enjoys being ridden by a goat.  No, I think I should probably do something about this.   


So anyone have any ideas on how to wrangle a snapper out of a goat pen?  Anyone?  I'll just be right here waiting for you to tell me what to do, 'cause I really am at a loss on this one.