Spring Cleaning:
It appears that it really is Spring! Sincerely so and not just a teaser. After 6 long weeks of extreme cold and snow, the days got brighter and the red stuff in the thermometer took a trip up the tube - over night! Seeing the snow melt away, hearing the birds singing and stepping over the puddles, puts a real Spring in my step. I even hear the geese honking overhead - that's always a very positive sign! With the arrival of Spring, brings about Spring Cleaning. There is nothing like powering thru the winter build up that will put you into a Spring state of mind any quicker.
Our first Spring Cleaning project was my very much neglected and the "I'll deal with it later" storage and laundry room. In total, these two adjoining rooms measure 90 square feet. The same size as a 9' x 10' bedroom. How is it possible to: make 4 large, green garbage bags of trash, 1 large green garbage bag of rags for Papa's workshop, 1 box of "missing" and "that's where that went" items also for Papa's shop, a pile of paper which fills a Banker's Box, that needs to be shredded, another pile that needs to be filed and a laundry tote full of items that are heading to the local auction house? Utter insanity I tell you! I cannot believe that all of that was what we had in this little space! A job that we thought might take 2 hours, actually took over 6. But the space! I can't believe how much space we now have in these 2 little, adjoining rooms. I could have a party in there.
With the sun shining and it being so warm out, the Spring Cleaning moved into our bedroom. All the bedding was removed, put through the washer and hung out to dry. The mattress was vacuumed and turned. The quilt was aired out. Everything smelled so amazing when we climbed back into bed at the end of the day. It smells of summer. Nothing brings sleep quicker than line dried bedding.
With the forecast for the mid to high teens, the windows are also on the to be tackled list for this week. Who knows? I may even take a swing at our walk in closet - that might be a quick "2 hour" job too!
Puppy Love:
One thing I really love about Facebook, is when the Your Memories come up. It's like having a journal of the highlights of your life. This week marked the 2nd Anniversary of Wilbur joining our Funny Farm. I still remember our trip to pick him up. We met his breeder parents at a halfway point between their farm and ours. We each travelled 6+/- hours to our agreed upon meeting place. It was an emotional day as he was the family's favourite pup that year. We didn't have a name picked out for him yet as we wanted to meet him first. They had been calling him Piggy because of the noises he makes and his tuft of hair on his forehead. When Husband gave him his final, emotional and very long hug before handing him over to us, we decided right on the spot to name him Wilbur. Wilbur, after the little Pig in Charlotte's Web, as a deference and respect, to his first family. We love our 130+ Goof Ball and cannot imagine not having him our lives. He has filled a hole that we didn't even know existed.
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| He has got to be the happiest dog I have ever seen! |
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| Baby Wilbur on his trip home with us. What a face. He had our hearts at first sight. |
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| Our Little Boy today. |
Story Time Quilt:
A few weeks ago, I came upon an Alphabet Panel and some coordinating fabric in my stash, whilst in search of a new project to begin. I wanted something simple and therapeutic to do. Upon finding the panel, I remembered a Demo Day that we had at the shop several years ago, where Margo from Wonderfil Threads spent the day teaching us thread embellishment. This panel just begged to be thread embellished!
I started embellishing the letters and images. A quiet, peaceful pastime. It was while looking at the embellished blocks, that I realized that this would make a cute Story Time Quilt for my Daughter in Law's Day Home. Now I have a purpose for this quilt.
Once the blocks were all embellished, I decided to cut them all apart and add sashing. It needed to be big enough for the little's to sit upon during story time. Something about the size of a picnic blanket. As I was deciding how to do this, I discovered that the fabric was cut into yards, not meters. This alerted me to how long this fabric had been in my stash! It has been many, many years since I have been shop hopping south of the border.
I am thrilled with the finished project, as are the little's for whom it was intended. My DIL put the quilt out on the floor and immediately one of her little guests grabbed the basket of books and sat upon it to read a story. Warms my heart.
I started embellishing the letters and images. A quiet, peaceful pastime. It was while looking at the embellished blocks, that I realized that this would make a cute Story Time Quilt for my Daughter in Law's Day Home. Now I have a purpose for this quilt.
Once the blocks were all embellished, I decided to cut them all apart and add sashing. It needed to be big enough for the little's to sit upon during story time. Something about the size of a picnic blanket. As I was deciding how to do this, I discovered that the fabric was cut into yards, not meters. This alerted me to how long this fabric had been in my stash! It has been many, many years since I have been shop hopping south of the border.
I am thrilled with the finished project, as are the little's for whom it was intended. My DIL put the quilt out on the floor and immediately one of her little guests grabbed the basket of books and sat upon it to read a story. Warms my heart.
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| The Finished Story Time Quilt. |
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| Label on the Story Time Quilt. |
The Simple Life:
When people find out how big a garden we grow and how much we freeze, dehydrate and can, their common reaction is utter shock! Why would you do all that work when you can just buy it at the grocery store? That takes so much time! Isn't that a lot, for two people? Actually, to be truthful, we absolutely enjoy it. It gives us a great sense of pride knowing that 85% of what we consume, we have had a first hand input on its production. Besides this, neither of us really likes to go shopping, so everything we grow here, is one less thing to have to go out to get.
Also, what we produce we know, with absolute certainty, how it was produced and what exactly is in it/on it. I have become so sensitive to chemicals/preservatives/additives that I have adverse reactions to a lot of commercially produced products. In fact, it is a very rare occurrence when we even eat out any more. I have had to many unhappy side effects after a meal out. It just isn't worth the risk. I didn't even realize how bad I felt until we quit buying commercially grown/processed foods and going out. We still go out occasionally, but truth be told, it is rare indeed. I would honestly just rather have people over and prepare the meal myself.
Also, what we produce we know, with absolute certainty, how it was produced and what exactly is in it/on it. I have become so sensitive to chemicals/preservatives/additives that I have adverse reactions to a lot of commercially produced products. In fact, it is a very rare occurrence when we even eat out any more. I have had to many unhappy side effects after a meal out. It just isn't worth the risk. I didn't even realize how bad I felt until we quit buying commercially grown/processed foods and going out. We still go out occasionally, but truth be told, it is rare indeed. I would honestly just rather have people over and prepare the meal myself.
The other aspect/bonus of what we do is mealtimes have become super simple. Just today, I realized that we didn't have a soup made for lunch. Off to the cold storage for a quart of chicken in stock, a pint each of tomatoes and Romano beans, the pantry for dehydrated onions and peppers, to the freezer for a handful of chopped celery and to the spice drawer for some thyme, salt and pepper. I literally had a pot of Chicken, Bean and Tomato Soup, simmering within 5 minutes. No fuss, no mess, no prep. Dump the jars into the pot and toss in the ready to go extras. It doesn't get any simpler than that! And I know for 100% certainty what is in it. This doesn't work for everyone, but it certainly works for us. And we're very willing to do the work to enjoy the Simple Life we both love.
I wish you all a wonderful day. Enjoy the sunshine!
Warmest regards,
Gremlynn
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