Cold

Baby it's cold outside!

Time for blankets, movies and knitting.

Rikki and I have just learned how to knit in the round.

Four double ended needles going at once.

We are making yoga socks.

It is not nearly as hard as it looks like it might be.

Rylee likes to multi-task and 

knit two scarves at once

on the loom.  

I have also been doing lots of Sudoko, 

but the girls will have nothing to do with it.

Oh well, their brains don't need the exercise.

Last night I dreamed of lambs and kid goats.

I am trying not to wish my life away,

but it is comforting to know that this winter too will pass.

How to Shovel Snow and Protect your Back

Maremaid

mare·maid 

/ˈmɜrˌmeɪd/ Show Spelled[mare-meyd]  

–noun

1.

(in folklore) a female farm creature, having the head, torso, and arms of a girl and the body of a horse.

I Love Wool

I love wool!
I love the feel of it.
I love the smell of it.
I love the looks of it.
I love where it comes from.
I love everything about wool!

What do you see in this picture?

I see wool roving.


I'd like you to meet Bella.
The newest member of the herd.

Thanksgiving Wishes

From our house to yours

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

more please?

Vacation

We all need to get away once in awhile,
even if it is just from the computer.
See you in December!!
love you all!
michaele

For My Daughters

Welcome Home

Give A Kid A Camera

I was sorting through photos and found these two amazing shots
I had never seen before that Rikki and Rylee took of each other
in 2008.  Something about these photos really gets to me!

I found many more good ones that I think I will make a video with
and post at a later date.  These girls have an eye for photography!

Date Night

I ventured out into the adult world last night and went on a date.
It was nice.
The girls were still there when I returned.
The house was still intact.
The animals were still alive.

I took a chance,
stepped out of my comfort zone,
and was did something that I normally find
a million reasons not to.

My new motto: Do hard things and grow.

Say It Isn't So

I just don't know if I can post this story.
But then again, how can I not.
I wish this never happened.
But it did.
It really did.

Sometimes when I am at the farm alone, working,
I try to hide my car.
This is the country and neighbors have a lot of time
on their hands evidently.
And, a neighbor is anyone in a 20 mile radius here in rural NE.
Today my car was hid a little bit.  It couldn't be seen from the road.
But it could be seen if you drove up onto the place.

Someone did drive up onto the place,
faster than people normally pull up.
The dogs let me know that right away.

As you know, this is an old farmhouse,
and during the week no one is usually here during the day.

It was a holiday, so I was there.

I had been working on the floors, so I tried to hurry and clean up
just a bit before I went to the door.  It took me a few minutes,
I thought they would be at the door by then.

I went to the back door to see where they were
and saw a woman bent over out by an old shed I have.
I was curious what she was doing so I stood and watched her.

She looked like she was doing something with her hands.
What was it?
Was she picking up something off the ground?
No, she had something white in her hands.
Was she wiping something off?
What the heck?
Is that her butt?
Oh my god!

Oh my god - please do not stand up!
Oh no no no no no no!!
You are not now standing up asking him for more kleenex!
I am not seeing this!
This is not happening!
WHY are you doing this!?
What did I do to you?
What are you thinking!?

I hope you know that I did NOT go out there!
What was I to say?  "Can I help you"?

After a long time.  Well at least 15 minutes,
which is a long time for what she was doing.
He finally got her back into the car and they left.

This is what I try to tell myself happened:
She was old and a little sick and needed to go NOW!
He was probably her son (maybe husband) and thought
no one was around and this place was off the road.
When he saw my car and the dogs, he tried to leave
(because he did turn around once before stopping)
but she said NOW!  She had already made a mess and
that was what she was working on cleaning up.

I would think there might be other options, but
evidently, they didn't.

Installing a gate just got bumped up to the top of my to-do list!
And - no more hiding my car!
Still having trouble with the images.

Day Off

It's Veterans Day, so before I go into what I did on my day off,
I thought I should thank a Veteran.  Thank you dad   : )

It was a frosty morning and I got to the farm early after dropping
the girls off at school.  This gave me a little time to enjoy being
outdoors before I had to go to work indoors.

I had pull out the big guns on the wood floor I have been working on.
I just wasn't getting all of the old finish completely off with the hand sander.

I chose this stripper because it had less harmful fumes.

I just started in a small area first to test it.
The directions said to leave it on from 30 min. to 24 hours.
I chose 30 minutes, because I didn't have 24 hours.

You can see it start to work on the old finish.
It is the part that is lighter colored in the photo.
So then it is just lots of scraping from then on.

It's not pretty.  Quite a mess actually.
It also never occurred to me how I was going to clean it up.
That is a good example of how I do things.

Whether this floor turns out beautiful or not, I just get excited that
I learned something new, because I actually tried something new.
I opens the doors for lots more possibilities and projects.
Just what I need right?

Homework Buddies

The Realtor Gods Return

We have had another visit from the realtor gods.
I was hoping that we had made them mad last week
when they wanted to take a stroll through our home
on a two hour notice. (Yes they are still trying that).

Clearly my rejection of this proposal meant I wasn't the least
bit interested in selling, and they would steer all potential buyers
to the properties that were actually for sale.
I didn't expect to here from them ever again.
Disengaged seller that I am. 

Once again, all plans for a normal evening, you know,
eating a meal, relaxing, exercising the dogs, showering, sleeping,
was all taken away in a puff of smoke once the gods gave their notice.

I never thought of myself as anal, until I caught myself diving after
a piece of dry leaf the size of a fingernail that inadvertently came in
from outside, on a shoe, while shouting "I told you to levitate!"
Anyone have a name of a good counselor?

I am seriously concerned that I began hyperventilating
while walking each area of our three story house sniffing for odors.
The girls had to slap me to get me to take a normal breath. 
That is why you slapped me, isn't it girls?

The cats enjoyed watching us like we were some kind of wound up mice.
But when they got chastised for pooping in the liter box they
decided we took things too far and proceeded to run across every
freshly straightened bedspread in the house.

The dogs were on their own. I caught Tess doing push-ups in her
pen to stay in shape, and Ramzey, he just sat staring at the neighbors
houses, wishing to someday find a real home,
where a dog could be a dog.

After a while, we all joined Ramzey...and wished...

So, tonight, right after I move all our beds into the garage
where we will be living from now on
as to not mess up the house,
I think we will send up a burnt offering to the realtor gods,
asking them kindly to please use all of the time allotted for the
15 minute walk-through.

You see, not only am I anal and prone to hyperventilating,
but I am also a stalker.
Yes, I observed all of it from afar.
It took a sum total of 9.5 minutes.
Two minutes were spent trying to unlock their own lockbox
and they were back out on the porch again in 7.5 minutes flat.
Five bedroom, three levels, garage and shop - 7.5 minutes.
Come on!
Highlights people, highlights!

Would You?

What if you could grow a vegetable in any climate,
with no soil or sunshine?


What if it be could be ready to eat in 3 to 5 days,
and rival tomatoes in Vitamin C content?


What if it was less than 30 calories per cup,
contained protein, and was very easily digested?


Would you grow it?
Would you try it?

Mung bean sprouts.

Started seeds soaking on Sunday morning.

Drained and inverted jar Sunday evening.

Rinsed 3 to 4 times a day on Monday.

Photo on Tuesday.

Ready to eat by Wednesday.

Video of River Otters on Skyview Lake

Needle Felted Sheep

I have decided to delve back into needle felting.

I have a lot of wool batting lying around

and lately I have been just dying to 

create something with it.

I have so many ideas, but thought I would start

with a sheep again to get my grove back.

This time I wanted to try making a framework

and see how I liked it. The idea being that

the project is more sturdy, 

while at the same time bendable.

Since this would not be a miniature,

I could start with bigger wire.

I chose this florist wire.

It worked perfectly for gripping the fiber.

I made the framework for the body and legs.

I didn't include the head, but could have.

I made the legs long, as they can always be shortened.

On larger projects, I use quilt batting for the inner layers.

This saves on wool and gives the same results.

Once the inner layer was wrapped and felted,

I began felting on the wool batting.

Then on to the head, which was challenging.

This is the part where I just keep repeating to myself,

it can be fixed, no matter what, it can be fixed.

That is the beauty of needle felting.

It starts to take on personality with the ears.

This was the first time I tried making the nose and mouth with wool.

I am wondering if embroidery thread might have worked better.

But she's a cutie isn't she?

Good Friend, Bad Dog

My good friend and co-worker, Terry, let it be known that he had 

changed out a couple of the light fixtures in his home 

because he thought they were too "country".  

He asked me if I wanted one.

I took that as a complement (?)

He said he would even install it for me.

Well, that is something this country girl could not turn down.

Out with the old...

In with the new.

I like my new wagon wheel light fixture!

While we were busy working,

Tess was busy sitting on top of his car.

Bad dog Tess!

As soon as I am done photographing you,

you get down immediately!

Good Party

The twins celebrated their birthday in October but were so busy with marching band competitions every weekend they didn't get a chance to have a party.  They had three friends over last night for a belated birthday sleepover.  I have to hand it to this group, they were the absolute BEST!  The great thing about it, is that these girls are some new friends they recently made and a mom couldn't ask for a better group of girls.

Agenda:  Eat pizza, drink pop, talk, laugh. (and text people)
              Go to Mall, shop, talk, laugh.(and text people)
              Come back to house, dump Clair's purchases out on the floor,
               look at them, talk, laugh. (and text a lot of people)
              Eat popcorn, talk, laugh.(make a few actual phone calls)
              Put a movie on, talk, laugh. (and text people)
              Paint fingernails and do hair, talk, laugh.
              Sneak downstairs for bag of apples (whisper).
              Fall asleep at some point with cell phone close by.

Not once did I have to list DRAMA and I am sooooooo pleased!

            

These young women are fun loving, beautiful, kind, decent and oh so smart.
I stand in awe.

luv
michaele

Who Done It

Someone discoverd my sunflowers.

hmmmm...

                                                                             

   uh huh...

                                                                                     

yep...

looks like someone is preparing for something.

In The Kitchen

We have decided to bake all our own bread from now on.

It has been fun to get creative with it.

This time we rolled up pesto in this bread dough made with
white whole wheat flour.

It makes excellent toast and grilled cheese sandwiches.

We also made a pizza with the dough for crust,

a garlic white sauce, pesto, and mozzarella cheese.

Yum!

Plenty of loaves to last a few weeks.

The whole time I am working in the kitchen
Willow is working on untying my shoes.
He always gets the job done.
Always.