Spring has sprung.

Yesterday we went for a walk down to the coffee shop.  It was a beautiful, blue sky, sunny morning, and we thought it would be fun to see some friends.

Along the way, this is what we saw. ------------------->

It made us think that spring had sprung.

Then a friend of ours said "6-10 inches."
Yeah right, I thought.

We proceded to finish preparing our raised beds in the back yard in the afternoon.  We decided to try the square foot method this time around- especially the idea of succession planting- it seems so reasonable, and manageable.  We are only allowing three tomato plants in our yard.  It is so hard to restrain myself, though!  And the dilemma of what types to grow... tough choices- but I think we are going with Black Krim, Ramapo, and some kind of cherry tomato that my dad had seeds for.
So, we made the grids, and planted lettuce seeds, radishes, garlic and snow peas.

SNOW peas, I said.

and this is what we got.

For all of the complaining I did.  Sheesh.  

But again, I am super excited about the gardens this year.  Maybe, just maybe, we will have watermelons and honeydew at the big garden.  That depends on if I can get some seeds started- soon.  The seeds I have are old, and too many years, now, I have been a slacker at taking good care of the seedlings.  Keeping them properly hydrated, lit, and warmed fell to the wayside, as I was busy with work or school, and just didn't pay enough attention.  

We are definitely planning to plant potatoes, winter squash, onions, and hungarian wax peppers up there, though.  I can't wait.  And-- hopefully, there will be hens again!  I love eating fresh eggs, and especially knowing that the hens are eating well, and therefore, so are we.  Watching them jump for the purslane we brought up to them was so much fun!  You get those Omega-3s, hens  Get 'em!

Up Next:

Odds & Ends

Road Trip

Make an Easter Basket

Dye Easter Eggs

It's an obsession. I can't stop.

Threat again of a winter storm. The warning that was good until 8am today has now been extended to 10pm, with only a grey sky, and not even a glimpse of a snowflake. Yes, I'm obsessed. I just want some real snow this year. Everywhere else got some. (Ok, lots.)

*tie bib*
It's together and clean, but I do need to press it to take a prettier picture!

With a whirlwind weekend, we sure did get quite a lot done.


Friday afternoon I got to work on some of my bibs. Boy version. I only got to do two- bias tape and time ran out! I am really excited about these!!!!!!!
Hopefully other people share my enthusiasm. Since we just started solid foods, I am noticing how it is really helpful to have more bibs than you ever imagined needing (or wanting).




We had a friend in from Albuquerque on Friday night, which spelled another trip to the pub. Of course, we didn't head out until the wee one usually goes to bed. She was all snug on Daddy's chest, and super alert on the way there. She lasted a little while, and then went to sleep. That was great-except she woke back up. (I think it had something to do with talking with his hands!) Anyway, the next day we got some breakfast, and our visitor left. A few hours later, another friend was knocking on the door.
It was time to put the bee boxes together!
So Lily was this time wrapped onto my chest, facing out- She has to witness all of the crazy things her parents do. The boards were glued, and somehow I was the one- baby attached to me- who ended up swinging the mallet to wedge them in place. She was unphased by this craziness and noise. Phew! One six pack, and one roast beef dinner, one trip to the hardware store, and 9 hours later, the boxes and frames were done.

Also, spring cleaning is going well, I do believe. We got some rest on Saturday night, and woke up with big hopes for productivity. Well, it all worked out! We cleaned and organized the mess of a garage. We even figured out how to place our raised beds in the yard. I gave my husband a haircut (new clippers work so well!!) and as a bonus, he ended up vacuuming the whole house. Maybe the spring cleaning OCD won't delay the rest of the things I want to do after all!

Waiting on a snow day

I waited last Tuesday night for snow to come. A huge storm, I thought, how could it miss us?
Well, it did. I'm done believing in weather predictions, they let me down something fierce this year.
But, before my hopes were so painfully crushed by the lack of snow, I did get to work on some earrings. And some felt animals.

Anyway, while we didn't get any snow, the day wasn't a complete bust. I woke up a little earlier than usual, probably from the excitement, and looked out the window to see the sad, grey morning. I thudded my way down to the living room with a glum look on my face, and my husband said, with a great smile on his, "I don't have school today!" What better way to celebrate that than to do our taxes?! April 15, you don't scare me!

That was about the extent of my productivity for a while, or at least that's how it feels.
Thursday, we had dinner at the pub with my in-laws, and Friday night, my parents arrived. They got here just before my husband had to leave to go play with his band at the smokiest bar in town.

Saturday there was lots of time to be had playing with the baby. We went fishing on Sunday, and my mother got to test out our new stroller. They stayed until Thursday morning, and amid all of the playtime, I did get to search some fabric stores with my mother.
We picked out lots of material, and I have a new diaper bag coming my way! (Our design, of course!) I also found some great material for one of my next projects...

Bibs!
I have some drawings done, but it's mostly in my head. So no sneak peeks!
Hopefully I will get the chance to work on them soon. This weekend looks like it may be full with friends and family, but I am really excited to start working on them! (Along with the busy weekend, I started to feel the urge today to get to spring cleaning. That has the power to stop me in my tracks, due to my self-diagnosed OCD.)

Some progress

I went on a baking spree the other day. Well, I tried to, but many things seemed against me! I planned to make zucchini bread, to use up one of the many bags in the freezer, and thought, since I would have the oven on, I should make regular bread, and some berry muffins too, to use the blueberries and strawberries I so happily got on sale last week, and promptly forgot about in the fridge.

Banana Berry Muffins. 

Well, the cornmeal for the bread had to cool, then the dough had to rise, so I'd be baking it in, oh, say, three hours? Then I realized I'd need 3 eggs for the zucchini bread and one for the muffins. Since we only had three left, I opted to make the muffins the next morning so they'd be fresh and warm. So that was all well and good- dry ingredients for everything were all set to go. Then I saw that one of the three eggs had a crack in the shell. Really?! Fine, I'll just use two, I thought. Well, I should have at least added more liquid! We have some pretty dense zucchini bread now!


On the bright side, the muffins were tasty, despite their less than beautiful appearance.

I did get the chance to start to work on some earrings. Just have to finish working on them!
And I started my new project.
Felt animals!
I am quite excited about the little guys.
I have a bunch cut out, and I need to go get some embroidery floss. (I tried to get some yesterday- I was so close- but the store I went to was renovating, and apparently left some things out to get dusty. Not ok for kids toys...)

Still no tapioca plans.
And sometime this weekend, we are going to go to the fly fishing show :)

Off to a slow start

We had a wonder-full presidents day weekend. Full full.
Saturday, the whole family went to the BMAC in Philly. Daddy walked around with the wee one, who happened to be the star of the show, I think.   Only babies under 6 months were allowed in, and I only saw one other baby in there. Since everyone was looking at her anyway, we decided to throw a strand of pearls on her and try to get people to our booth.
Low, I know, but fun and worth it!
I later decided that strand should come home with us, after all, they were the first pearls she had worn! (Call me sentimental, I'll accept that.)
Then Sunday was my first real day away from our cutie. It was tough, but I was kept busy, and knew she was happy hanging out with Pop.

The great thing about long weekends is that they keep going- So Monday, we took a little field trip to New Columbia, PA. Brushy Mountain Bees!!
We picked up two hives and all the tools and goodies to go with them. The bees are scheduled to arrive May 11. Bzzzzzz. So this will be exciting- so I think!

Along with the honey, I am pretty excited about the beeswax, and sense some candlemaking in my somewhat near future. *big grin*


But, after the long weekend, I feel like I got nothing done. The studio is a, um, well, it's a mess. Everything goes up there as a staging ground or something! So in order to work at the bench, sometimes it needs more than just a quick tidy up to get to an empty surface. Well, this endeavor got worse, and will continue to get worse, before it gets better! I bet it would have been cleaned up, you know, if I didn't have to learn all of the ins and outs of our furnace. We ran out of fuel overnight on Thursday.  I was up and about for over an hour before I even became slightly suspicious. Clearly the "cold" doesn't bother me. (61 is wonderfully comfortable, if you ask me.) Rather, it was the surprising lack of noise, I think.
So fuel was delivered but the heat wouldn't come on. 3.5 hours later, with a whole new set of skills, (and a call to my dad, and the help of a good friend and the heating guy) the heat was back on.
Finally, Saturday allowed me to finish cleaning the studio!  (unfortunately for me, fly tying materials all ended back on my bench, so the fly tying table could be used to saw some knife steel...  It's all still there.)

As for making stuff:
I bought some tapioca- it's a first step...

And I used up some stuff that was just taking up space in my life:
Banana chips (stupid inpulse buy in the bulk aisle one day)
&
Peach schnapps (horrifyingly sweet)

I must say, the combo made for some pretty decent banana bread :)

Up next (I hope):
More earrings

Well, that didn't go like I planned.

No new earrings.
No second sweater.
No desserts.

Ok, that's a little exaggerated.
* There really are no new earrings. Though I did manage to fully finish the pairs I had started.

(big thanks to mom for the new needle set!)

* The second sweater is not made. I started it... Then tore out more than half of what I did. Apparently I neglected to look back at what I had done, and one of the button bands was stockinette, the other was, correctly, garter. Riiiiiiiiip, riiiiip, riiiiip... I started to knit it again, but I'm still on the krimpy yarn.



* Desserts. I didn't make anything great, that's for sure.
I saw a recipe for chia almond coconut pudding.
Eh. It was ok, but I'm not sure I'd make it again.it seemed like a waste of perfectly good chia seeds. A LOT of perfectly good chia seeds. I've had the same bag for over a year now, I'm sure (they're dry, and haven't gone bad!) Now, granted, I don't eat or drink them that often, I had barely made a dent in them. This *just ok* pudding put a huge dent in the bag!

just what I was looking for

And by the way, I think chia seeds are what had me running in the summer heat, 7 months pregnant- so yeah, I think they are pretty awesome.



I DID take a little field trip to the public library, though. Picked up a nice little book on bookbinding.
Color me happy, but for the fact that I haven't even gotten to look at it yet. The day after I got it, I felt pretty pathetic with a headache, and a hurting back. (Carrying around 11lbs in front of you isn't the easiest on your back, you know.) And it may have had something to do with the (blizzard?) Nemo/Charlotte with the pressure changes, and the irritatingly disappointing lack of predicted snow.


Either way, I even missed the baby shower because I hadn't returned to feeling normal yet.
So this is what I am sending out soon!

baby gifts.
blue sweater & burp cloths.

Coming up:
Who knows. I just hope I make something decent this week!

Exciting Stuff!

Well, aside from changing schedules, we are starting to really get into a groove. There are many days when the wee one lets me get a lot done.

New baby sweater.
"Puerperium"

Over the past week I strang (strung?) some pearls, finished a whole bunch of my tiny earrings, knitted a sweater, made some other baby gifts, baked bread... You know, the usual.


(I must say, it is fun to have a model for my knitting!)

Of course, I didn't really get to the specifically Valentine's inspired jewelry, but hey.
Pearls and earrings are good!

On another note:

A few years ago, I got my husband (at the time boyfriend) a sheet of stainless steel for his birthday to make a knife with. Well, that hasn't been done yet- not even started.  But drawings were just being done by him within the past two weeks. :D
Along with this idea, he decided he wants to learn to do blacksmithing. That reminded me, for my freshman orientation to college, I attended Haystack Mountain School for a long weekend - where I learned blacksmithing. Clearly not all of the ins and outs and what-have-yous, but I got to try my hand at it.
It was Great.
So now I have a hankering to hammer some hot metal on an anvil, along with my many other, more docile hobbies.


Baby shower this weekend.
I never really enjoyed any kind of shower (except the kind in a tub), but I must admit that having a baby around, I am pretty excited to go to this shower. It's more fun, I guess, knowing what they are getting themselves into!

Up next:
More earrings
Another baby sweater- same pattern, different baby.

Desserts? (I'm really hungry right now!)