One Part Inspiration...

I know it has been a very long time since I last blogged.  Let's just say, I have had a lot going on.   One of the new additions to my life has been a weekly car-pooling exercise with my youngest son.  He has been working in construction at the top of the hill.  I get up at the crack of terribly early to get ready for the work day. He sleeps in the van while I drive and listen to the radio.  One of the nicest things about this drive is that I get to spend time with him - a luxury that had all but disappeared until a couple of months ago.   Another benefit is the view I get for my efforts.  The worksite overlooks the valley.  It doesn't matter what kind of day it is, the view is speck tack i-lar.    I decided to embrace the opportunity to car-pool with him and reward myself with a coffee at the bottom of the hill while I wait til it is time for me to go to bed work.  I usually listen to a sermon or two while I wait a...

Sometimes you have to think inside the box, and imagine it to be a different box. Case in point: In a bid to have my newly-minted silverware drawer more organized, I stopped at Ikea the other day to find a product which they carry. My new silverware drawer is bigger than the individual boxes I had been keeping the silverware in and I was finding that they were sliding all over the drawer.  I didn't want an old-fashioned silverware holder because I needed to store more items in it than the slots had room for.   I know this is a First-World problem, but it was frustrating to continually put the little boxes close to the front of the drawer, knowing they would slip to the back of the drawer as soon as I closed it.  I tried to use other items to stop the slide, but the items were not big enough.   What I needed was another one of theseexpandable sets so I could put all my ecoutrements inside and know they would stay in place.   Sounds easy enough, r...

Since it is the beginning of November, I decided that it would be a good time to roll out a new look for the living room.  This began as a routine, vacuuming job.  Suddenly, I was inspired by the spider's web hanging in the corner, to move the end table. I vacuumed behind it and began looking with  a critical eye at my layout.  Perhaps I could move the Futon over to where the couch was and vice versa.  My husband smiled and said I could do whatever I wanted.  He could already see (I saw it in his eyes) that this plan would be an epic fail.  It was.  The Futon and the love seat are not the same depth.   However, I did manage to move the couch to the other side of the room [having recruited my accomodating son #2]  and leave the Futon in the same place (but not before removing more spider's webs and dust from the summer).  The other two chairs now sit in the other corner and are waiting removal when the Christmas tree comes i...

When we moved to the farm the first time, I thought to myself, "Well, if I have to wear boots, I might as well get some that I love".  My green boots fit that bill.  I loved them.  I felt sassy, and useful all at the same time.  They became a story of my life as a hobby farmerette.  They saw me through chasing the sheep in and out of our fields, going out to call my husband for lunch, or helping him on his various projects around the place.  I used them to take care of chores like composting, and raking, and digging and care of the grounds at The Pokeaway. I picked up shingles and garbage, got in the vehicle and did a lunch run in those boots.  They saw me through multiple tramps through the fields, painting expeditions, gardening crusades, and soccer games in soaking wet fields.  My daughter even wore them when she helped her dad with the rabbits - feeding, watering, building cages, and taking the rabbits to market.  And then sadly, in the ...

Since we have redone the office area, I am reorganizing files and papers.  It's one of my favourite  things to do.  The fact that it is in the middle of the afternoon and I am surrounded by paper, a camera and the floor is piled high with bbq tools (found them in storage while I was putting papers away) and the vacuum and left over paint has not stopped me from becoming distracted and writing this post. One of the things I found was the binder-less (son needed the binder for school) stack of papers in which I have recorded various bill payments and kept a list of things we need for taxes.  Then I ran across another piece of history.  Our goals and objectives.  Every once in a while, my husband and I sit down and have a discussion about where we are and where we want to be.  Every good mother wants to make sure that she is hitting some sort of target.  And every good dad will good-naturedly sit down with the mom and talk it out and write it out a...

This  has become that as the remodelling of The Pokeaway saga continues.   Six weeks ago, we had a bunch of contractors, heating experts, plumbers, and other odds and sods from the construction industry drop by.  They looked around, talked amongst themselves, ripped up the floor, bored a crawl space through in the dining room and left.  I am left with a 'ship lap' floor and promises of more work to be completed.  But first we have to find the fittings for the radiators we bought.  This has proved to be harder than we first thought. The one plumbing place was less than helpful and the other thought they had something 'somewhere' - but they are moving, blah blah blah, and it's in one of these boxes, yada yada yada.  It has yielded nothing. Sigh. I am re-learning an old lesson : "in whatever state I am, therewith to be content".    I took this picture of the floor steamer with the thought that I would label i...

 There are days when I head out for a walk, that I feel like I'm walking in a postcard.  The scenery is so spectacular.  The road along the dike goes for miles.  Each time I head out, there's a decision to be made. How far will I walk? Some days, I am very energetic - although I've never made it past the blue barn.  No matter which way I look, I am astounded by the gorgeous views. Mountains to the north.   The water follows the path all the way along.  Puppy always is a willing companion.  When we get past the bridge where the troll lives, I let him off the leash. He goes exploring and I keep walking. Every once in a while, he turns around to see where I am and bounds back to me.  I give him lots of recognition for making sure I'm ok and off he goes again.  The troll bridge Once I've turned around to go home, he comes with me, and before we have to pass the troll again, I put him on the leash so there's no trouble....

Here's a little video of spring-like things I have been enjoying. Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is my 500th post. You may recall that I made some sort of rash promise about reaching this milestone. That I would do something brilliant to celebrate the fact that I have posted 500 times about who-knows-what. Privately, I thought that perhaps by now, I would have been hunted down by some book editor, who would realize the brilliance with which I express myself, and would convince me to sign a book deal - with a huge advance on publishing my thoughts. Clearly, this was a pipe dream. I wouldn't even know how many posts I have blogged except that my lovely partners here at blogger.com keep track for me. If they hadn't said so, I would have thought I was still closer to one tenth of a thousand instead of one half of a thousand. So....tap, tap, tap, on the keyboard,....get up to get a Diet Coke.....wander into the bedroom to get my jammies on....and then contemplate...think, think...think....what fabulously brilliant way can I mark this momentous po...