A Means to an End

Thats how I'm thinking about my job these days. I'm back at Jo-Ann's as a part-time employee and am enjoying seeing my old customers and talking about crafts again but it's not my main focus anymore. I'm taking time to enjoy my family again and building toward our future. It's not about making a lot of money to buy things that get cast aside eventually but developing bonds with people and nature. Little joys, little stress and loads of love... sounds oh so much better than dead lines that always seem to pass and high stress. Everyone around us seems so focused on becoming more successful so they can make more money to buy more things that don't last long enough or become "out of style". No one seems to be developing real skills that they could use if the bottom fell out tomorrow. Very few could even grow their own food or make their own clothes or build their own shelter... the basics of life. SCARY!

So for now I am working to get us to our land and a simpler life based on basic needs and self sufficientency.

Week at home for the most part

Scott is working today but taking the rest of this week off and I'm working tonight and then won't work again until Saturday night. We are hoping to get some projects done around this place while we are both off. I'd love to get the garage completely painted the off-white and some more work done on our kitchen/den project. And we have to have some "goof Off" time together so we may drive down to Leesville for some BBQ. You pay as you go in and they have a sign that says you have to eat your way out. LOL! Click on the post title and it will take you to their website.

Personality test results

ISFJ - "Conservator". Desires to be of service and to minister to individual needs - very loyal. 13.8% of total population.

Free Jung Word Test (similar to Myers-Briggs)
personality tests by similarminds.com

It's about right too! Sounds like me.

Spot on leg

I have this spot on my left leg that gets darker red when I spend a lot of time on my feet. I took these photos last night after walking with my son and then working 8+ hours at the store. The Dr has me on a diuretic to help with fluid but this spot continues to be an ugly spot on my leg.

A view of our entire garden and Amelia's new toy

I got Amelia another Devil Ball with feet. She loves these things and they are made of a material that she can't shred into bits and pieces right away. It also squeeks for her; which she LOVES!

The picture of the garden shows where I still need to reclaim it after 4 years of neglect but we are getting it back into production. When we get to our ten acres I want a garden three times this big.

Morning Discoveries

The rain yesterday really made everything jump. And seeds have begun sprouting in the tray on the porch. Mostly cucumber and squash.

Rumbles turned into rain!

We lost power for about an hour. I got the dog inside before it let loose. And Tara cat came inside as well; she hates wind on her ears more than the rain on her fur. Little Nikkie was no where to be found so he was probably in the neighbors garage with their cats. I took a couple rain pictures through our den window. The wind was just whipping the rain around.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!

Thats what it is doing outside. I haven't seen any rain fall yet but it sure is loud. Wouldn't you know it... I all ready watered the garden this morning and now God is jumping in with more. I'm not going to complain as we need the rain. I'm just wishing we were set up with some rain catchment barrels so that I could have some "free" water for the garden for dry days. The tomatoes are putting on blossoms. We have lost nearly all the little pepper plants; needed to have waited until they were a bit bigger to transplant them to the garden. I've started more seeds so we will have some later now. I also started a BUNCH of cucumbers, some squash and some eggplant. We are planning to plant some beans and corn this next week.

Misplaced letter

I know I owe a pen friend a letter but I can't locate her letter in this mess of a house. Remodeling and living in the same building is shall we say DIFFICULT! I got called in to work 5 hours today and I had all ready planned out my day to improve our dwelling. I guess that their is always tomorrow.

Tara has decided that A/C is wonderful!

I also believe that she is wanting to be close to me more now that I'm home and not away so much. She is about 12 years old and you can see the "old lady cat" features in her appearance. Poor thing spent 3 years at Pets Inc as no one wanted to adopt her because she was "mean".... she only had severe ear mites and a pair of ears full of a yeast infection. Once we got those cleared up for her she has been a sweet little cat.

Flannel Attack!

Last week when the clearance fabric went on sale 50% off at Jo-Ann's I bought over 20 yards of flannel plaids at $1.50 a yard. I saw a quilt done in these and thought it was beautiful and the price was more than right to jump in and go for it. Like I REALLY needed more fabric! NOT! I also bought a light weight cotton plaid to make Scott a Summer robe and perhaps some sleepy shorts to match. It was 60% off so I couldn't pass it up. His fleece robe that I made for him is just too hot for the Summer months. So today I'm going to work on laundry and in my sewing room trying to get it back in order so that I can sew in there again.

The Dr will have to wait until tomorrow

I've just got too much to do today to go to the Dr. Laundry, grocery shopping and work for the best part of the day. I'll also fit in some house cleaning as the trash is picked up tomorrow. If I'm still feeling bad tomorrow then I will get an appointment.

We have lost one tomato plant and the rain storms that moved through the area have beat the poor baby pepper plants into the dirt. We don't believe that they all will recover and are thinking about starting some more to replace the ones that we lost. Scott planted some more squash seeds and we are hoping that they do well. Squash borers are a real pain here.

Sickness!

I've been quite sick today and slept the morning away and then just vegged the rest of the day away for the most part. I did do a load of dishes, baked some cupcakes and made blue frosting as Greg wanted them that way. Oh and I changed the cat box and took the trash out. I'm going to try to get in to see the Dr early tomorrow as I have to be to work by 1:30. I'm only working about 3 days a week now which is nice. Now if I could only feel better.

Amazing video

spray paint art.wmv
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1246174515665636969

This is one of the videos on my side bar but it's SO AWESOME I wanted to post it's link in my blog.
Looks like you will have to copy and past the link.

Tomato progress and baby peppers

The tomatoes are growing well and looking really good except for one plant that has curled it's leaves like it's in distress of some sort. I think it's fire ants gnawing on it's roots. I set out the little pepper plants night before last and so far they are all still green and looking good. I'm sure we will loose some but am hoping it's not many as we did not start very many plants so I have no replacements. And our single squash survivor has squash bores in it's stem; I fear we waited too late to start squash but Scott wants me to try starting some more for a later crop and I will do that over the weekend.

Greg's hair and don't make him angry....

Greg brought me the clippers this morning and had me buzz his hair off. When I was finished it looked like I'd trimmed the hair off a Huskey dog... LOTS OF THICK DARK HAIR! In October he will have to loose the beard as well when he goes in the Navy but for now he wants to let it grow. His hand is green from trying to dye a shirt... I told him he looked like an alien and he laughed and said, " No... I'm the Incredible Hulk.... GGRRRRRrrrrrr!

Nap Cat

Tesla always looks like he is ready for a nap and a napping partner is always welcome!He lours me into a nap too often these days. It's been a real struggle to stay up and motivated to do anything the past few days but I'm making myself do a little something everyday. Today I weeded and watered the tomatoes and then have laundry going so that I will have clothes to wear to work tomorrow.

Tuesday Morning

June is just flying by! I've taken the trash and recycling to the curb, fed the animals, watered the garden and played with the dog. I've got a grocery list started and have several projects in mind as well as house cleaning. The problem is I'm so tired! I just don't seem to have any energy at all and would probably fall fast asleep if I laid down at this moment. But I'm going to just get the day started and try to not sleep the day away as there is just too much to get done around here.

Survived Friday the 13th!~

Yesterday was a long day as I worked last night until close and tonight will be even later as there is a sale set so we won't get out of there until at least 11. Scott had to go into work this morning to be on a conference call at 10 AM - we are both so looking forward to leaving the work force and building our country dream.

Morning doings....

I've started laundry and went out and watered the tomato plants. I grabbed the camera and took some pictures of things in bloom and growing, Amelia, the moss covered birdhouse and the old white bench swing that I rescued from a neighbors trash years ago.

Bossy Kitty

I heard Tesla making little noises over my shoulder and I turned to look at him and he glared at me sat up and looked at the shade. I had fed him but not opened HIS SHADE yet. He is a bit spoiled!

Today's 4 patch play

This is a small lap sized quilt... once it's sewn together I'm wondering whether or not to add a border.
HMMMMM?

Last 4 tomato plants

As I was walking the trash to the curb I caught site of three more tomato cages in the front yard that I had put around some glad bulbs to hold them up. The glads will be relocating to the property soon so I snatched the cages and set out the last 4 tomato plants. Only one will need to be tied up. I was thinking about setting the pepper plants out into the garden as well but I don't think they are big enough to survive a bug attack yet so plan to re-pot them first and give them awhile longer on the porch to grow bigger.

Quilt top #1

I still have enough 4 patch blocks to make two more quilt tops. I'm thinking about mixing the next batch up a bit and make some into triangle cuts for the next one. And I will be more fussy about squaring things up on the next one. I figured this would be a basic "sick" quilt - you know the ones you feel like dying under when you've caught the latest crud going around. A quilt to hug you while your sick. Lord knows it's BRIGHT enough!

Scott in NC... wish I was as well

Scott is on a business trip to the mountains of NC today and tomorrow and I so wish I could have tagged along. I'm sure it's oh so much cooler up there in the mountains. It's all ready 77*F here this morning at a quarter to 9. I went out and watered plants early this morning and changed out the pets water for the day. It's going to be 100*F later today... UGH! I'll be staying indoors and sewing up squares and quilt tops. I've got all the 4 patch blocks sewn together just need to finish pressing them open and then I can start playing around with the blocks. I think I have enough to do several quilt tops as they are about 15" square and I figured that I would need 42 blocks to make a King sized quilt top - 6 blocks by 7. Fewer for a queen and I have quite the stack of blocks.

99* ---- Feels like 102.5*

UGH! Summer is HERE! I wish we had more trees to shade our house. Perhaps when we build the cottage we could build a little into the woods or at least close enough that we would be shaded during the hottest part of the summer days. UGH!

Back to my quilting project with the fan on as I am to the point where I need to iron and ironing is HOT work. We went over to Jo-Ann's so I could get the light bulbs that I needed. While there I got a new seam ripper as mine is pretty dull and I got enough fabric to finish a wall hanging that I owe an online quilting friend. She sent me the cutest cat wall hanging. Since I am late getting this to her I plan to make a little something else to go with it and will also include a heart shaped yo-yo maker and a measuring tape so it will be a real goody box for her.

While Scott was in the garage....

I pulled out my old Dressmaker machine and pieced some blocks that I came across while cleaning in my "play room". I'm going to make warm and cool colored 4 patch blocks and then mix them together to make a Queen sized Quilt top. I received the squares in a charm swap long ago - before I re-entered the workforce and lost myself. It was fun seeing and working with this collection again. I need to get a new light bulb for the Dressmaker as it burned out yesterday; I am thinking about buying two so I will have a back-up.

Scott's better pictures of his saw project

On these you can see up close details... I think he is proud of his work. LOL

H-O-T! And it's only June!

UGH! It's 97*F here today and humid. Scott is out in the garage working on a saw rebuilding project; had to run to the Hardware store for the few items he missed the other day and while down there I went in Bi-Lo and bought this weeks groceries. Wishing I had left that job that was making me ill about a month earlier so I could have more fresh vegetables to pick now from our garden. Back to the saw project; Scott can bring home what looks like a piece of junk and make it look new again as well as bringing it back to life. This saw looked like a rusted wreck when he brought it home but now it is looking so nice and new.

Gwen's Graduation

I took a few pictures and I'm sure my sister will have more to share with me later of Gwen's graduation. I got a couple of her singing and then her class in caps and gowns. And I got one shot of her getting her Diploma but it's a bit blurry and you really only get one shot to get it so blurry is better than none I guess.

Flowers and Nature

I love these postcard prints. So much color and life... makes me happy just to look at them. Today my niece, Gwen graduates high school. Seems just yesterday she was the little girl dancing around singing little sing songs.

Morning happenings

I'm going to have to start getting up a LOT earlier if I'm to beat the heat of the day. WOW! And the humidity is also starting to get pretty bad. I just came in from the garden. I set out 3 new tomato plants to replace the onces that we had lost either to heat or bugs and have watered everything real good. I need to rework several more of the raised beds so that we can get more veggies growing; anything that I can do to add vegetables to our table this summer will help us. And fresh from the garden always tastes so much better than bought vegetables. Next up is laundry! YEAH!

Yesterday I started back to work at Jo-Ann's as a part-time employee and it was a little strange being back there as non-management but the time past quickly and it will be enough to get me out of the house some and earn a little money to help with groceries.

He is a WINNER!

Scott's photo made the centerfold position in our city's calendar. YEAH! He got a City poster and a t-shirt. The cover photo was of our Krispy Kreme Donut's shop and that guy won the $100. Still... Scott is a local talent thats officially published now and I'm proud of him.

Primer on the walls!

YEAH! Scott has put primer up on some of the walls in the den and WOW! What a difference it makes.

SO SICK!

I am up early as I am feeling absolutely miserable! My head aches extremely bad and I'm so congested I can't breathe out my nose at all. Definitely feeling YUCKY! I think the sheetrock dust is to blame so from now on if I'm around it at all a mask will be worn. Going to try to get a bit more sleep now.

Jo-Ann's

Yep... I'm going back to Jo-Ann's as a part-time employee. I just know that I can't do management again right now and I want more time at home to garden and sew.

Silly Fat Cat

Ugly fabric to cute tote....

An online pal sent this ugly fabric for me to turn into something nice and I will be sending her back this tote that I made for her using fabric from my stash as well. I sure hope that she will like it.