I Got My Dining Room Back!

Even though I didn't take a pic just imagine ... on my dining room table .... sewing machine, thread box, extra parts for machine, scissors, seam ripper, bits & pieces of material, quilt patterns & a whole host of other things, plus unfinished projects draped across each of the chair backs.

I have a workout room in my house in the city. It held a treadmill & yoga stuff. The treadmill hadn't been used in quite some time. It was a very nice one but when I looked on Craig's List there were 15 or so listed so I gave it away to a former co-worker instead of listing it & then waiting for it to sell. I had a project in mind ... a sewing table!

I now have a sewing room!

The opposite side of the room.

Got filing cabinets & chair from work. Greg bought & cut a 3/4" piece of plywood 34" x 8'. I had an old picnic tablecloth that fit it perfectly. We attached it w/spray adhesive & stapled to the bottom.

I still have plenty of room for stretching & doing my little exercise routine. The top bin is empty & the other two contain my less than desirable fabrics & my work shirts waiting to be turned into more of these:

One end looking onto courtyard. Door to right is to back porch.

Grow light stand/storage shelving. The other end is just a closet wall.

I found that I had enough room to the left of the sewing machine to hold a mini ironing board.This was made with leftover plywood, some batting & an old pillowcase. I don't have to set up the big ironing board for pressing those small quilt pieces. It's 9" x 26". Here's how I made it.

Board, batting cut just a bit bigger than board so it wraps the edges & pillowcase.

Place batting on top, flip over, then start stapling pillowcase to back.

Simple letter fold & staples.

Viola. a mini ironing board!

That empty bin in the above photo used to contain what is now in 2 of the drawers!

Some of my reproduction fabrics.

Solids, misc, Fall & Christmas.

One other drawer contains patterns, books & my unfinished projects & the last one contains extra supplies like batting & large background material.

Now I can invite friends over for supper & we have a place to sit & eat. I am a happy girl! 

The Expo Was a Lot of Work!

As mentioned in my prior post, I had volunteered to help my friends over at Hoss Tools at the AG Expo last week (Tuesday thru Thursday). This Expo is mainly geared towards commercial farmers but my friend talked the shows representatives into letting him open a Sustainable Living Center for home gardeners that were interested in more natural & organic growing methods. Especially since at least a third of the attendees are home gardeners as well.

The location of the show is on an old airfield (over 600 acres). Last year was the first year & it rained almost the entire time & was basically a muddy mess. But, there was a lot of interest so the Center was deemed to stay. They added an open air metal building to hold the vendors & displays of pumpkins which was the theme this year. And, they have a garden shed where attendees can select which implements they want to try. There are single wheel hoes, double ones as well, plus a double seeder & a sweeper attachment (to cut weeds off while pushing through the rows), raised bed kits & a variety of rakes & hoes. The garden was fenced off & divided into 9 or 10 sections. Each holding various flowers & vegetables (4 or 5 kinds of pumpkins, 7 or 8 of squash, pinkeye peas, 2 kinds of okra, various lettuces, pak choy, broccoli, zinnias & cockscomb & sunflowers just to name a few).

They had to bring in over 18 cubic yards of compost because the dirt there was in bad condition. Farmers Organic supplied the compost & Johnny's Seeds supplied the seeds & they both had booths in the building. There was also a speaking tent where various people gave speeches throughout the days, including NY Times best selling author Forrest Pritchard who was promoting his newest book Growing Tomorrow.

We got started each day around 7:00a & ended around 5:00p. The first day started out quite chilly but warmed up to a nice 78 degrees. The next 2 days were quite warm. There were 2 other volunteers from nearby who both have organic gardens, One has a CSA with her brother. We walked around the garden answering peoples questions. Hoss Tools demonstrated their products & let people try them out for themselves. It was quite tiring & as I arose each morning around 5:30a I felt like I had gone back to work!

The interest & enthusiasm showed by attendees was outstanding. Greg from Hoss was interviewed by various newspapers & gave 2 separate live interviews from local newstations. The gardens were beautiful & people were very impressed. We hope to expand next year, maybe have some raw milk & grass fed beef and/or pork products.

There was another vendor (Lauri Jo's) who was exhibiting in one of the larger buildings, doing live cooking demonstrations. She brought in celebrity chefs each day & they came to the garden each morning to pick product to use in some of their demos. Who knows maybe next year we can have a chef or two on site (in the building).

Although this show is always held in the fall, the Media Girl from the show was talking about doing a Spring/Early Summer event just for the Center (read ... no big AG). We'll see.

Here are a few random pictures ...

Raised bed with Salanova Lettuce

L shaped raised bed containing herb

Hexagon raised bed containing, ornamental kale & cabbage

Rainbow Chard, Kale, Romaine, Elegance Asian Lettuce Mix

Zinnias & Cockscomb

Sunflowers

The other 2 volunteers & Greg from Hoss Tools

Double Wheel Hoe

Mennonite Farmer getting ready to buy the Seeder

Trying out the Seeder

Pak Choy, Salinova Lettuce, Broccoli

Daily Life & The Expo

My daily life is finally getting to be somewhat of a routine. Still either exercising or walking (or both) first thing most mornings. If I get an early enough start I am back home by 8:00a or so. No dog lunges recently but I do carry a baseball bat part way, just in case. I leave it hidden behind a post about 1/4 mile from home. The only dogs I see after that are on leashes being walked by their owners & most are very friendly. It's been somewhat cool in the mornings the last week or so & it's been great to get out early. The sunrise this morning was especially lovely, huge red sun coming up on my way back home.

Overheard Greg tell a relative at the family reunion that he is also loving my retirement since I have dinner made most nights (he's only had to cook once he said) & am doing all the laundry & grocery shopping. My sister was sitting near & piped in that it sounded like I didn't do anything at home when I was working. I will say that we shared the cooking but it always seemed like we were behind the clock trying to get dinner on the table before 8:00p. He did ALL the grocery shopping, so that has opened up a new world for me. I actually walked almost every aisle in the grocery store last week. There's a lot of stuff in there! In the past my grocery shopping was to run in & get a few things & leave as fast as I could.

I went to Lowe's yesterday as I heard they had mums & such on clearance. I just wanted a few to spruce up my front porch. They had the mums in 4" pots on sale for .25 each & the 6" for .50 each, plus some geraniums for $1.00 each. I picked up a few of each & spent most of the morning planting those in various containers for the porch & a few for the back patio. Although my potting bench had a blow out & I had to improvise until Greg can fix it. Always something.

I am in the process of turning my workout room into a workout & craft room. I gave away our old treadmill to a former co-worker. We delivered it to her last weekend then met some old friends for lunch. The husbands had planned it & didn't tell the wives, it was a very nice surprise. Greg & I met at an apartment complex where we all lived. There are 5 marriages that spawned during our time there & I'm proud to say that all 5 couples are still together after more than 30 years! Well, except for 1 but that was due to a death a few years ago. I'd say that is a real accomplishment for each of us especially since we all married young & it was the 80's :)

I'll be heading to the country tomorrow to stay for a full week. I won't be doing much at the house as there is a huge Agricultural Expo in the nearby town next week. It's huge & my friends at Hoss Tools have a sustainability exhibit where they plant vegetables & flowers & show how their products are used. I will be helping them out during the 3 days of the Expo & am very excited. I'll be sure to take pics & share them once I'm back home.

Here's a link to a Vimeo on the Expo Sunbelt Agricultural Expo.

Since the last post we've had parmesan chicken, breakfast for dinner, homemade pizza, beef tenderloin, lamb shanks, spaghettia & meatballs for dinner. Tonight is a chicken broccoli, mushroom casserole I saw on Trisha Yearwood's Food Network show last night. It's got sour cream, mayo & cheese in it so it's bound to be good.

Family Dynamics & a Reunion

My Grandmothers were the true Matriarchs of their respective families. My Mama & Daddy both hail from the same general area in the country where our Country House is. Both were large hardworking families. Mama's side of the family were sharecroppers (they didn't own the land that the family worked on but had free housing & all the food they needed) & Daddy's side owned a 200 acre farm where our House is located. I never knew either of my Grandfathers so my Grandmothers were the glue that held the family together.

Family reunions were started by my Grandmothers after their children married & had kids & many moved away. It was a way to get everyone together at least once a year. After my Grandmothers passed the siblings kept the tradition going for many years. As the older siblings have passed the grandchildren are not as good at keeping them going for many reasons.

The last reunion on my Dad's side was about 5 or 6 six years ago. They were always held on the weekend after New Years. The last one planned got cancelled due to a death in the family & no-one ever took it upon themselves to plan the next one, until this year.

The cousin that decided to hold it had good intentions but isn't the most organized person. Invitations went out late (really late) & not everyone was called to make sure they knew about it, in case they didn't receive or didn't check their PO box regularly. So, we were missing about 25 or 30 people that probably would have come had they known about it or had enough notice.

My Dad's family had 8 siblings that consisted of 3 older boys, 2 younger boys & 3 younger girls. My Grandmother & Grandfather separated when the 1st 3 boys were young. They got back together soon after & had the next 5. One of my older Uncles used to say there was the 1st family & the 2nd family. There were probably about 8 - 10 years difference between the 1st & 2nd sets (I'll have to ask my Dad). Regardless, all have passed but my Dad & 2 of his Sisters.

The reunion was held at my Aunt's house (wife of one of the 1st family). We had a fairly small get together on Saturday night with the big event being held on Sunday. My cousin got up early & cooked Boston Butts on the barbeque & then everyone else brought side dishes of all sorts.

(Cottonwood / Confederate Roses)

There was cornbread dressing, all sorts of beans/peas, corn casseroles, chicken & dumplings, chicken & rice, tater tot casserole, cornbread, rolls, etc. along with every sort of dessert imaginable. The star of the dessert is always my cousin's 14 layer chocolate cake. She always arrives at the last minute just after icing the still warm cake. The lucky ones hurry & finish their meal & grab a slice of the still warm chocolate cake, heaven on a plate!

Pic borrowed from Internet

In addition to "Old Settlers Baked Beans", I made a key lime lasagna from some fresh key lime juice that my Greg had squeezed last year. Those things are tiny & it took him forever. We froze the juice in ice cube trays & I was so glad I finally used it! This pic is from the blog that I "borrowed" the recipe from OMG Desserts

Mine actually looked very similar to this!

Here's a pic of mostly everyone that was there (some had left already).

Minus about 30 or 40 (some had left, some didn't come)

Some were a bit angry that they missed out. Hopefully, they will get over it for next year as we hope to continue in the upcoming years because we had a really good time!

A Retirement Gift

I had an annual Dr. appt. last week & since I had to put on 'real' clothes (opposed to workout clothes) & put on makeup (my new least favorite thing to do), I also arranged to have lunch with a friend from work.

She left the company several years ago but we were & continue to be friends outside of work. I've known her for well over 20+ years & have watched her kids grow up. Her youngest just turned 16. It was great to catch up with her & to hear all about the kids new adventures.

After lunch as we were saying goodbye she said that she had something for me in her car. It was in a Target shipment box & since she had to get to a conference call she just handed me the box to open later.

I ran a couple of errands & then went to Dr., which took almost 2 hours of wait time! That is most unusual & I had my Kindle to read but still ... He apologized & was done w/me in about 15 minutes, all's well.

By the time I got home I had completely forgotten about the box until later in the day. When I opened it here is what she gave me!

It's a Ninja power blender, the kind you see advertised & on infomercials. All I could say was WOW! This thing is very powerful. It came with the blender as well as the 2 different sized jars which are great for making smoothies.

I think the primary purpose of it is to incorporate veggies in order to be healthy but the 1st thing I made was a pineapple, strawberry, lime, coconut smoothie. Not dietetic at all but very delicious.

Today I made an avocado, pineapple, yogurt smoothie which was very thick so I put a few ice cubes in it to melt down so I could drink it through a straw. Very tasty. I'm going to venture into incorporating spinach & other greens soon. Maybe this will be the way that I can actually add Kale to my diet (not my favorite green!).

No venturing out for me this week it's supposed to be raining almost every day but should cool down a bit for the weekend which will be great as we have a family reunion to go to. I've got to decide what I'm making to eat. Thinking Old Settlers Baked Beans & a Key Lime Lasagna? I'll post about it next week.

Have a great week everyone!

The Country Trees - 2015

Nothing exciting to report. Should have taken these pics when we planted the trees back in March.

Pine Tree By Driveway (1 of 6)

Silver Maple in East Field

Oak 1 in East Field

Sycamore in East Field (a little sparse)

Oak 2 in NE Field

Oak 3 East Side of House

Lemon

Orange

Pine in South Field (aka Front Yard)

Oak Bush 1 in South Field

Oak Bush 2 in South Field

Magnolia or Bay Laurel in South Field

Red Maple in SW Field (planted 2 years ago)

Oak by Barn(s)

The Oak bushes were planted 2 years ago & were just twigs from acorns from the City House. I had planted about 10 but these 2 were the only ones that made it. Very sturdy little trunks. There is one other Red Maple planted this year that I don't think is going to make it. All but the oaks & Sycamore have grown about 3 inches this summer.

That's all, just wanted to get them documented in case they actually live. Will be putting straw around them the next time we go, to hopefully help with any freezing weather that may come our way this winter.

First Full Week of Retirement

Still walking most days, it was pouring this morning so only did a few stretches. Hey, I deserve a day off right? Oh, I have every day off, guess I shouldn't whine.

Monday I decided to clean, I mean really clean our master bath. Toilet scrubbed top to bottom, sinks, vanities, cabinets, floor, wash rugs, etc. 

I'm still sorting through work paperwork & need to nail down Insurance, 401k stuff, etc. Received the new TV HD hookup boxes but they aren't hooked up properly. TVs work but not as clear as I think they should be plus I cannot program the new remotes to save my life. And, they forgot to send 1 box. I spent several hours trying to figure it out & now I'm giving up. Called for service person, they are coming next week. I'm sure it will take them all of 30 minutes to do what I couldn't.

Had Lab work for upcoming Dr. appt. on Tuesday morning fairly early so since I had to shower & put on a bit of makeup I decided to run a few errands after taking Greg some breakfast. Wow, what a difference in going from place to place without having to rush back to work. Shopping is not a favorite thing of mine but it wasn't bad that day.

I have a baby shower to attend for one of my former co-workers. It's this coming Monday morning. Last weekend I looked at her registration list from Target & saw that her colors are grey & white. Hey, I just happened to have a stash of grey & white fabric. I think those in the know call it a "charm pack". Anyway, I decided to make her & her future little one a baby quilt. It rained several inches this week making it a great week to stay inside & make a quilt. 

I had to buy the inside & outside borders & binding (didn't know if I would have enough leftover fabric to make it, turns out I didn't). It's a bit wonk eyed but the colors are very pretty together. It measures about 45 x 55 so it's closer to a crib quilt that a baby quilt. I even tried my hand at fancy machine stitching on the borders. Probably shouldn't have done that but it does add a bit of homemade charm to it, plus there are plenty of mistakes. I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to quilting so it doesn't bother me, but I know they're there, but I doubt the baby will mind. I'm calling it my shabby chic style.

The quilt took up most of Wednesday, Thursday & just finished binding it today. Messed up on that too but I didn't notice until I was 1/2 way done & I had made the mitered corners perfect! No way was I going to rip it out & start over so I just made do & it still turned out ok. I needed to finish today as we are headed to the country this weekend & the shower is early on Monday.

Hubby went to the Dr. & got some meds & seems to be on the mend.

Meals this week consisted of pan fried Cod w/Quinoa & Squash Casserole (pulled from freezer), Lamb Sliders w/Baked Sweet Potato Fries, Pork Tenderloin w/leftover Quinoa & Casserole, Ham (pulled from freezer) & Brie Sandwiches. Greg is bringing home Italian takeout tonight.

Gotta go feed my worms & get quilt wrapped. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Pinterest Fail ... Not

At least in the taste dept. Last week I made one of the many chicken dishes featured on Pinterest these days ... Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast Wrapped in Bacon.

It doesn't look too purty ..

But boy did it taste good! Here's the money shot ...

It was very good. Going to have the last of it for tomorrows lunch. The rest of the week consisted of meatloaf & mashed potatoes.

I still haven't had a full week of retirement due to the Labor Day Weekend & my Dad having to get another Heart Cath last Tuesday, where they did one more stint. He's on the way to recovery though with back surgery scheduled in the near future. He says he only has 5 or 6 things wrong w/his back. Only! But he's wanting to get it done so he isn't in any more pain from that.

Continuing to deal w/aging parents & trying to get into a routine. 

Did filing today so only have to make new files for what I brought home from work. 

Got my dining table cleared for a small baby quilt project for a girl at work for the following week. Will post pics if it turns out good.

Easy peasy dinner of store bought chicken pot pies tonight. Greg has been feeling a bit under the weather so have to curb my desire to try other new recipes until he feels better.

Watering & Persimmons

Went to the country house over Labor Day weekend. All of the trees are still alive although I think I might lose the Sycamore & one of the Maples. It is just too dry. Even when it rains it doesn't do it consistently enough so it dries out to brittle conditions. Each day while there, we got about 30 sprinkles & one very very quick soaker, maybe 1/25th of an inch? We have got to get a rain gauge, but I don't even think it was enough to be measured.

The pond is as low as we've seen it in years. Took the opportunity to mow grasses that are normally in the edge of the water line. Again, no pics I'll do better in the future.

I watered twice while there. Here's my watering 'system'.

A friend gave me a 55 gallon rain barrel complete with spigot. Greg cut me a water hose about 6' long. A full 25 feet didn't work, too hard to handle & it took forever for the water to come out. I fill the barrel with about 45 - 50 gallons which is just enough to water the 25 or so trees. Good exercise too as I have to get off & on the mule at each tree. It takes a little less than an hour to water, not counting the time to fill the barrel.

We also cleared out some of the driveway in the branch area. Beautiful weather all weekend long, could even almost, but not quite, feel a very slight touch of Fall in the air. Leaves were beginning to fall off pecan trees along the fence line but that is most likely due to the drought. We have a clump of pine trees near the gate that we also got cleared. I plan on putting a dogwood tree & some azaleas around them.

While driving back to the house I noticed some red fruit on a tree. Stopped & picked them, persimmons!

My Dad said he remembered that tree but only remembers them puckering him up when he ate them as a child. He must have picked them way under ripe because even though they are tiny they are very sweet.

The passion fruit still isn't ripe.

Trying to get into a retirement routine. I have been walking a mile or 2 most days but don't have a house routine yet. Still trying to get the boxes unpacked & some drawers organized.

Going to get dinner prepared for tonight. I've been wanting to make the cream cheese stuffed chicken, wrapped in bacon that I've been seeing all over Pinterest. My niece made it & said it was wonderful. The pounding of the breast is the hardest part. I'll update on how it turns out.

Officially Retired! My first day ...

Started out with me getting up at 6:30a, stretching for 20 minutes, then going for a 1 mile mini walk.

As I was leaving I decided to grab my house key which detaches from my car key. Locked door, put garage door down & realized I had grabbed my car key instead of the house key. Locked out! Oh well, I'll grab the hidden house key to let myself in when I get back. Walked .5 miles & then turned around to come home.

About 1/2 way home one of the neighbors door opens & out rushes their very unfriendly dog which came right at me. It's a medium sized dog & just stood their growling & barking at me but never lunged. Neighbor comes out to road to get dog which is sniffing me & decided I wasn't such a threat after all. Gave him a pat & continued on home.

The next house down, another very large black dog comes out barking but never left their driveway. I knew about the 1st house & their dog but the dog at the 2nd house is new. Will have to investigate if he is a permanent resident or just visiting.

Made it home, retrieved key & tried unlocking the door. It wouldn't work in the door I had left from. Go around to back patio to see if it will work on that door. Yep it did but because I came in a different door than I had left from the alarm goes off. Jeez, what a way to start the first day of the rest of my life.

Now it's on to technology world. New laptop wouldn't connect to internet. Tried a couple of things & it finally connects. Sign in to email to thank all my wonderful friends for the retirement presents & keep getting kicked offline. The connection is hit or miss.  It's disconnected twice while I'm typing this post. Will have to get on the phone with HP. My old laptop doesn't have this problem.

Now on to the new TVs we had to buy because we got hit by lightening a couple of weeks ago. Note: Several neighbors also lost TVs in the same storm - 10 in all. Got both connected but they aren't even half as clear as they were in the store. Called carrier & they said that my eqipment is old & they will have to send new boxes in order to get HD service. At least it wasn't something we did when installing them.

All in all a pretty rough start but I think it will only go uphill from here. Gotta go, I've got boxes to unpack.