Weekend in Review

What a wonderful, productive weekend we had at the Funny Farm.

We started the weekend off by getting the starter replaced on the truck on Friday afternoon…in 40 minutes.  We were very pleased with ourselves on that one. All weekend we marveled everytime it started on the first try .

Of course we did work on the old house. On Saturday we were able to shampoo the carpets and wash the windows and be home before noon…and that was with going to Home Depot, the nursery and the Farmer’s Market first.

The Farmer’s Market was bustling, so many vendors, so many people, and so many temptations. I have to really watch myself, if I’m not careful I’ll easily over do. I can’t wait until we have more things in our garden to harvest, but for now, the local farmers are a great source. Mike takes raw vegetables to work to munch on during the day, so picked up things for him, and the blackberry farm lady was there, so I picked up five quarts to use now/freeze for later.

We did end up with two cobblers over the weekend (the first one was small ).

On the way home we stopped at our favorite nursery to pick up a couple more basil and tomato plants and found that all their herbs were on sale, buy-one-get-one free.  I did get some Russian Sage, two kinds of Lavender and Basil…as well as a couple of okra plants and a couple more tomato plants.  When I got home I was kicking myself for not getting more herbs, so I’ll be making a trip back there today.  Luckily we got some much needed rain this weekend, so I didn’t get these guys planted, that will happen today.

When we got home I bush hogged the back yard/pasture while Mike mowed around trees and the house…I made a cobbler and chicken salad pinwheels and we settled in to watch the Tour de France, wonderfully tired from a great day.

On Sunday we had planned a bike ride, but at the last minute we had to cancel, so we’ll hopefully be doing that next weekend.  We did get a lot of chores done instead.  Mike stained and polyurethaned the shelves for the kitchen (I’m going to have shelves!) and bush-hogged the back 3 1//2 acres.  I made the second cobbler of the weekend and a batch of lavender cookies, as well as the mundane have-to-do things like laundry, mopping, cleaning, etc.

Lavender Cookies

My dad showed up at lunchtime with his rediculously good home made chicken and dumplings, so of course we had to eat, and eat, and eat.

I think we got everything done that we planned with the exception of the bike ride and unpacking boxes.  Not bad at all.

The weekend ended with us watching the Tour de France and feeling very, very satisfied about an incredibly productive weekend.

Friday

I do love a Friday! I always look so forward to the weekend…then I remember…we have to work at the old house all weekend. Oh well, it gets us one step closer to getting it sold. Maybe not many weekends to go.

I have great ambitions for us for the weekend (notice I said for ‘us’ -:))

We really need to bush hog the back ’so-called-yard’, Mike has to replace the starter in the truck (we’ve given up the luxury of taking the vehicles to the shop for such things), shampoo the carpets in the old house and wash the windows, get the shelves for the kitchen stained and installed and unpack some boxes.

We’d love to get a few hours of biking in on Sunday afternoon, bake bread, bake a cobbler with my last quart of blackberries from the freezer, get more fresh blackberries from the farmer’s market, plant some things in the garden…oh the list of ‘love-to’s’ is so long.

Oh yeah, and sit on the porch and listen to the bullfrogs and crickets and do nothing. That one is required.

Front Porch

We’ll see on Monday how it went…wish me luck.

Things About Me – #2

My first job was as a car-hop.

When I was in high school I lived in a small town that had only two public places to eat, the Red Barn and the Quick and Tasty drive-in. When I was 14 years old I got my first summer job as a car-hop at the Quick and Tasty, waiting on tables occasionally, but mostly waiting on cars that pulled up outside, much like the Sonic of today. It was 1971, I wore halter tops, hot pants and boots (or those Candies with the tall wooden heels, remember those?), sometimes fishnet stockings (I’m certain I’d be picked up by the cops in today’s world, but it was 1971, I fit right in.) Joy to the World, by Three Dog Night, was a number 1 hit that summer. We played it over and over and over on the juke box. Whenever I hear that song I think of those summer days and rainbow cokes (made by mixing some of all the different sodas and syrups, heavy on the cherry).

Weekend in Review

What a great weekend it was, in many ways.

Mike got a lot of work done at the old house, and we’re seeing an end in sight. It might actually be ready to put on the market in a few weeks.

I took a road trip with my dad, my son and my brother’s girlfriend M, and we had a blast. Just an overnight trip to relax a bit. It’s always fun, my dad is quite interesting to travel with, and the car ride was so much fun with my son and M. We had so much fun that dad said he’s taking earplugs next time. I think we’ll get him an iPOD.

We planted our garden about 3-4 weeks later than everyone else, so it’s just starting to come in. I was so excited to get banana peppers and jalepenos last week, and the cherry and grape tomatoes are looking good.

There were ripe ones when I got home today…we ate them too quickly for me to get pictures.  

The hummingbirds are finally here.  They aren’t very afraid of us, I was sitting at the outdoor table 3 feet or so from the feeder when this one came up.  They have declared the dinner bell their perch. 

Maybe we’ll be able to harvest more vegetables soon, and the canning will begin. Meanwhile we’re just enjoying these wonderful evenings of being able to sit on the porch and relax a bit.

Things About Me

I always like the ice-breaker that companies have when getting people together for an event in which they ask you to tell something about yourself that others might not know. It’s actually the way I found out that my husband loved to build things…I’d worked with him for a couple of years at that point and didn’t know that about him. You run across this ‘things about me’ in the blog world too, and I always love reading them about the people I follow. After reading Kathie’s last one at Two Frog Home I decided I will start posting one every week or so. This kind of came from sharing something about myself with a friend not long ago and totally surprising them. So I decided it might be interesting for those that think they know me to find out if they really do .  So here goes.

#1 I Heart Biking

I began road biking in the early 90’s, and haven’t looked back…not until house building took over our lives this past year. Luckily for me, Mike loves it too. At one time about three years ago we had 6 bicycles between the two of us, but now we’re down to 4.

There are a couple of organized rides we like to do in the late Summer and early Fall, so during the rest of the year we take advantage of having access to a military post (the NASA center where we work is on a military base) that is practically a ghost town on the weekends, and we can train to our heart’s content without worrying about traffic . We can cover many, many miles on a long summer day, and there’s a river on the South end of the base with two different recreation centers on the water that make wonderful rest stops.

We also like to meet up with friends and take long rides in the country. There’s a special bond you develop with people who really know what it’s like to sit on that little seat for a 5 or 6 hour ride. We’ve developed some very special and long lasting friendships since we started riding.

We enjoy mountain biking too, but don’t get off-road a lot anymore … seems every time we go Mike has something recovering for the next few months…arm, leg, etc. And the older I get the more sensible I get, I suppose, because I think more about how long it takes to heal when I hurt something. We’re planning our first road ride in a long time for weekend after next, I can hardly wait.

BTW – I’m Saving Time over at Homemakers Who Work today.  Drop by and say hi.

Weekend Review

We had a wonderful weekend at the Funnyfarm. Some things got done that had to get done, and some that we wanted to get done.

Saturday we did go to the old house and cleaned, repaired some wood trim, cut trees and bushes and hauled to the road for pickup, trimmed out-of-hand rose bushes, and in the middle of all that my daughter and her boyfriend came by and we loaded the truck with some furniture we are giving her and moved it to her new apartment. We had quite a sense of accomplishment when the day was done.

Sunday Mike gave me the best present ever. He said he was going to the house to power wash the driveway and patio and put primer on some trim to be painted, and that he didn’t need me to help…there would be nothing for me to do, so I should catch up on some things I’d like to do at home. He’s sweet, there’s plenty I could have done, but I know he’s sensing my frustration in not being able to come up for water between work, the old house and the new.

He didn’t get home until about 3:00, and I got a lot done:

Made 5 loaves of bread
Made potato and chicken salads for the week
Got a lot of laundry done, which I usually end up having to work in during the week
Unpacked a couple of boxes
Reorganized a bit in the pantry, making more room for things
Sorted through recipe box and organized recipes
Sat on the porch and watched the finches and hummingbirds feasting at the feeders

He saved me. He knows just when I’m at the edge. Now that I’ve been able to have a ‘me’ day, I’m good to go again for a bit.

Where We Are

I’ve had a few people ask me this week where I’ve been, as the blog posts have been few and far between. I think we’re still recovering from our trip, trying to get caught up. Work is incredibly busy for both of us right now, and is taking a lot of our energy and time.

We are still working to get the old house ready to sell, so that takes all of our weekend time. Our original plan was to sell the old house before building the new one, but we decided that we’d be financially better off to not do that. We’re paying for it in time now, our weekends are consumed.

Since we’re not here to work on the new house on weekends, many things aren’t done yet. Like kitchen shelves for the dishes. We are having open shelving on the cedar wall, but the boards are on the back porch waiting to be cut and stained. The brackets are on the counter, waiting to be installed. So, meantime, we have dishes stuck here and yonder in the pantry, on the counter, in drawers. I’m not the most organized of people, but this bothers even me.

The guest bedroom is stacked with boxes waiting to be sorted through. I have give-away, throw away, Goodwill and yard sale piles to be made. My daughter is moving into an apartment this weekend and will likely be able to help with some of that. My stepmother is chomping at the bit to have a joint yard sale, so I need to get motivated.

Out pasture-yard grows about 2 feet a week, no kidding. We don’t even worry about the back side, except for occasionally, but the front 3 or so acres need mowing almost constantly it seems. We just finish, and there it is again. This takes a chunk of time.

We can’t park in the garage. SOOOOO much stuff in the garage. If we ever have time, we’ll build shelves and other storage in the back of the garage and start organizing Mike’s workshop. Seriously, it is filled full. This really nags at him, but we just haven’t had a chance to get to it.

While we were traveling, the weeds in the garden took over, so we’ve been trying to spend time each evening cleaning it up. It’s a big garden. Really big when you are trying to totally weed it.

I have herbs screaming to be transplanted from their tiny pots. I managed to get my Basil into a large pot last night, more to go.

We are avid road bikers. We love getting up early on a summer Saturday morning and meeting friends for a wonderful long ride. We haven’t been on our bikes in a year. A year. We got an email from a riding buddy today saying that the group is going for a 30 miler tomorrow morning, wants us to join them. I probably couldn’t ride to my mailbox from my house right now. That makes me sad, sad.

My problem is that when I think about all there is to do, I get so overwhelmed that I don’t get anything done. My new strategy starting this weekend is to just try to tackle one ‘out of the ordinary house stuff’ thing each weekday evening at the new house, maybe we’ll start catching up. We can hopefully wrap up the old house tasks in the next few weekends.

So this weekend, I would love to bake, make preserves, plant some things, make dog cookies for the boys, ride my bike, read, write, sit on my back porch and so nothing. What I will actually do is trim rose bushes and shrubs at the old house, help Mike cut down a couple of dead trees, clean, maybe paint a room, help with the bush hogging.

So much for my rambling…but I guess this explains where I am.

I am going to try to get my blog under control. It started as a tool for us to document the purchase of our land and building of the house. Now that it’s done, I need to regroup a bit and figure out what I want to do with it. Maybe I’ll work on that this weekend too.

Even with all that, we still take time every day to look around in awe and count our blessings that we are able to live in the giant wooden house in the middle of the giant overgrown pasture.