Saturday, April 28, 2012

Asparagus!!!!


A crafty indulgence....

OK – so while my technical issues have taken a brief break, and it appears that I can actually "blog", I thought that I would continue with an update.

So, as you know, tax season is over, and, well, I thought gardening season was here.  I mean…the tomatoes are ready!
 
 

We had many days in the garden, tilling up the dirt and readying the beds.  I am just itching with the need to plant my seedlings and get some potatoes in the ground.  I mean, we had temps in the 80’s in March.

It is time, isn’t it?

But this weekend, we had a surprise.

Snow!

Yes, snow.  Horrid, isn't it?  I do not love.  The green grass is now crunching underfoot with a fresh coating of frost, and the feathered ladies are staging a sit-in within the coop.

So, I have plenty of time to spend indoors.  Time for cleaning, organizing, ironging…..oh how the list goes on and on…

But, all is not lost, as I have also been a very spoiled girl. 

Why, you ask?  Well, the craft is back!  (And yes, I realize that I rhymed that, and therefore sound a bit like a tool…so goes…)

I have a friend, Katie, who runs West Bay Farm in Maine with her husband and their children.  Katie is a friend from back in the old college days when we were both accounting students learning about deferred tax assets, and business consolidation journal entries….you get the picture.

It very long time ago.

(I would insert a picture to demonstrate just how long ago it was…but honestly, who needs that? ;)  )

But, anyways, on the farm, they have lots of different livestock, but sheep are the highlight of this story.  Cause, as you know, sheep are a fiber animal, and fiber is wool, and wool is yarn... and well, that is one of my most favorite items in the whole wide world.

'Cause yarn means crochet, which means that Lee Ann is very, very happy :).

Katie hand dyes the wool herself, and she even takes custom orders for weight and color….  So, I have indulged.  And I am spoiled.

I am in heaven.

Truely, truely in heaven.

You should check it out - seriously.  It is very, very awesome.  And for wool, it is incredibly soft.  So soft that my daughter already claimed the pink purse I made from their two-ply wool yarn for her very own…to be home to some Littlest Pet Shop friends…

I am thinking about stealing it back, but that would be very un-mommy-like, and we can’t have that…

Their website for yarn sales isn't up and running quite yet, but you can visit their West Bay Farm Face Book page, and send her a message for details….

And don’t forget to tell her I said “Hey” ;)  And that I had this thought…for some yarn…well, you get the idea ;)

Friday, April 27, 2012

Hurray....?

I have been having technical difficulties.

Days before the end of tax season, my netbook just gave up and died. 

My phone, normally quite smart, have been proving that it truely is a baby Droid...

And then, our old laptop, which I thought was OK, proved that it is truely old.  So old that it runs on a browser that it no longer supported by Blogger, and once I tried to update the browse, the whole thing freaked out and refused to budge.

I wondered when, oh when...I would be back...

But today, I logged in to Blogger, and found that I could type this post.

Of course, it states "Some parts of Blogger will not work and you may experience problems".

But...hurray..?

Yes, let's call it hurray. 

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Moving forward....

Today marks the third day that I have spent a good part of the afternoon in the soon-to-be garden turning over soil.  This is hard work!  And my body, having spent the better part of the last three months parked in front of a computer, is exhausted.  I keep thinking that if I just keep moving forward, it will start to come together.

I am still working towards that.

Yawn.

Thankfully, we have a solid month before anything actually gets planted in the garden.  Plenty of time to get my act together.  We will get there.  In the meantime, I enjoy browsing all of the seed packets I collected over the past months.  Three types of pumpkins...hordes of onions...more tomatoes that I will know what to do with.

The stuff dreams are made of.

But, for now, we are just maintaining the status quo.

We are now down to 11 chickens.  It is such a small number for us.  I keep counting and recounting them at night, thinking that someone must be missing.  But no - there are just that few.  Once a day or so, I think about adopting a few more, and then promptly change my mind as soon I as I go outside at dawn to find that yet another skunk found their way into the chicken yard.  The ladies are yet unharmed, but those skunks make a horrid mess.

I am not a big fan of cleaning those messes.

I don't even like to do the laundry....

The husband has big plans for the homestead, of which I am only just learning about.  That's the thing about tax season.  You get to put huge blinders on and focus on the task as hand.  And the husband move forward to price out wood stoves, plans to hire a friend to build a wood shed, and looks into buying a camper for use on our property across town.

Should make for an interesting summer...

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Done.

It is done.

Tax season is done.

Sounds surreal, doesn't it?

Done.

I realize that it has been weeks and weeks since I have posted here.  And once my brain has returned, I am sure that I will be back and posting up a storm...

But now?  No, 'fraid not.  I am on empty.  Truely and completely empty.  Not a single fun and creative thought up in my little head.  My head even feels empty.

Today, I met up with some of the ladies from work, and we enjoyed some rest and relaxation at a local spa.  And I attended my much cherished chiropractic appointment, where the good doctor straightened me back into a straight line. 

I am now good and sleepy.  Before 7pm.

So, for blogging...I got noth'in.

But, on a plus side, I did vaccuum my house for the first time in weeks today ( I know, nasty...you don't need to tell me).  And yesterday, I cleaned some bathrooms. 

Good times.

So, I will be back soon.  And it will be lively and inspired.  Really.  Promise.

Is it bed time, yet?

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Mind blowingly busy...

To say that the world is busy on this end would be an understatement.  We are in the dead heat of tax season - the point where it is all hands on deck, your main exercise comes from from run/walking from one end of the office to the other, and the time that I really wish I had those sneakers that have the wheels on the bottoms.  'Course, at that point, I would simply run into the doorways of co-workers...but you get the idea.

I no longer dream regular dreams.  I dream of spreadsheet allocations, tying out trial balances, and tracking foreign investment income.  It is an odd sense of comfort, as lately, in my dreams, my work has been perfect.  I appreciate the lack of a panic-y cold sweat.  And, as my dreams are just a continuation of my days, it is not hard to get back in the groove each morning.  I never left it.

I got up early today get some work in, and now it is time to start moving on some home items.  Chickens, cats, dishwasher.  The day to day affairs.  But rest assured, the end is in sight.  Soon, the summer days of gardening and romping outside will be here.

Just a few more weeks....and I will be back :)