Confessions of a recluse

I socialized.  It's true!  We both did!  In public!!

But I'm tired.  I feel drained. 

I think I just need time to reboot.

I keep our gate closed.  But you'd be surprised at how many people think the closed gate and 'no trespassing' signs don't apply to them.  How stupid can people be?  "Hmmm...I think I'll just bypass this gate with the big sign on it and venture up into the woods.  In. The. Middle. Of. Hunting. Season.  Because I am a total fecktard."

I've never been much for drop-in company, anyway.  It never fails that people show up when I'm in the middle of something: a messy project; sleeping; sitting down to dinner; cleaning; romping naked in the...oh..you get the idea. 

We had quite a bit of company (invited) when we first moved in and the house was still in very rough shape.  I thought we'd entertain more once the house was finished.  But I find the nicer we make things here, the less I want to share it with others.

Or maybe I'm just getting old.  And crotchety. 

**Thanks to Dac for teaching me to say feck.**

*sigh* Really??

Remember the days, when you needed to schedule an appointment, and you were asked if there was a better time of day or day of week for you?  When your dr/dentist/hairdresser/dog groomer/chainsaw repairman worked you into their schedule according to when you could be there?

Those days, it seems, have gone the way of the Dodo.  No, wait, I saw a Dodo at the dr's office today. He was the one in the tie.  But I digress....

Recently, while trying to schedule an appointment for Little Sis, I was told the date and time to bring her in.  Um...no.  Can't make it then.  I need a morning appointment.  "But," says the clerk, "we don't have any morning appointments available on that day." 

"Then make it another day," I reply.

You'd think I'd asked him to do something hard, like deep-fry a Dodo.

When scheduling a completely different type of appointment with a completely different type of office, I'm told to come at a certain time on a certain day.  Again, I tell them I need a morning appointment. 

"But," they tell me, "we only see follow-up clients after lunch."

Again, at a different office:  "You need a follow-up visit in one week.  Due to the holiday, we are backed up, so the earliest I can get you in is two weeks from now.  It's double booked, so come fifteen minutes early."

Why? So I can wait an extra fifteen minutes on top of the three hours I'll be sitting in the waiting room?

Are you EFFING KIDDING ME???

An update on the dryer challenge



Remember The Dryer Challenge?  So far, it's going well.

It's really not that big of a deal to hang the laundry in the living room at night, then take it down in the morning.  In fact, it seems to help in making sure that laundry is folded and put away immediately.  I admit it: I'm pretty bad about pulling stuff out of the dryer and piling it in a basket to be dealt with at a later time...usually much later.

My morning routine now includes taking down, folding, and putting away the laundry, then rolling up the clotheslines.  They hang on a hook behind the door, neatly out of sight.  It's nice to have that chore out of the way before coffee.

The only drawback so far is that I have to plan things carefully.  If I don't do a load of laundry in time, it means having laundry hung inside during the day.  (We are still a couple of months away from weather nice enough to hang laundry outside.)  As you may have seen in my lame Christmas poem, that could mean a garroting, or worse (don't ask).  But, thanks to Eöl, the lines are freshly tightened, so garroting is no longer an issue.  I hope.

On the plus side:  the laundry makes the whole room smell nice, like one of those linen scented air fresheners;  the extra moisture in the room has done wonders for my sinuses; the electric bill has dropped about $25 a month.

Some people may consider it tacky.  Big Sis says, "It's resourceful."  Little Sis says, "It's homey."  Besides, if I cared what people outside my home thought, I wouldn't live the life I live, have this blog, or run rampant with a chainsaw on rare occasions. (I'm trying to limit chainsaw rampages to holidays and special occasions.)

'Twas the day before Christmas...sort of...

'Twas the day before Christmas

here on the farmstead.

A last minute check list

runs through my head.

The laundry is hung

above the living room chairs.

Watch out! Don't run!

You'll garrote yourself there!

Christmas music fills the house.

I sit here like a toad

waiting for this friggin'

web page to load.

We'll bake some cookies,

then I'll sweep up the floors.

Even on Christmas,

I still have chores.

A batch of squash

fried three different ways,

"Yum," says Eöl,

"I love fried food holidays."

We'll watch The Nightmare Before Christmas

and try to figure out:

Halloween or Christmas,

which holiday is it about?

Soon, we'll tuck the kids

in for the night,

and share a glass of wine,

by the tree's twinkling light.

I look back at my poem,

the meter is off and punctuation sucks,

Lucky for me,

I don't give a -DUCK!

I told you you'd garrote yourself!

Happy Holidays!!!

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Actually, no doubt about it this year, unless we wake up to above freezing temps for the first time in weeks.  Last I heard, we had more snow on the way.  We're planning a bit of sledding during the holiday vacation.

Tomorrow, we're making Christmas cookies.  I'll be trying out a new sugar cookie recipe sent to me by a friend.  That's my big plan for the whole day.  Nothing more than some tidying up and baking cookies. 

We're all looking forward to a bit of rest and enjoying some down time during the holidays.  Sure, there are still projects to do, but you know how that goes: when there's time, there's no money; when there's money, there's no time.

Already the seed catalogs are popping up in the mail.  I'm planning some pajama clad, catalog perusing, coffee sipping mornings for the holiday break.  Yeah, Baby! Life in the fast lane! Woooohooo!

I know: our lives sound boring.  But that's the way uh-huh uh-huh I like it. *winks*  Sorry...couldn't resist.

Hoping your holidays are peaceful!

Dear Santa, Please send me a nap.

I still can't get over the fact that it's just a day or so till Christmas. 

I thought that buying firewood would buy some free time this winter.  It did:  Free time to work on the zillion other projects I had been putting off.  I have been so busy that I didn't notice Christmas sneaking up behind me: sleigh bells and holly and candy cane wielding elves....yikes.

Now here we are, just one more day till Christmas Eve.  The shopping is done. The presents are wrapped, thanks to the girls.  The stockings are hung.  Baking? Nope, not even started.  And all I want is a nap.  I'm exhausted.

Quilts

I have issues.  Big surprise there, huh?  But yeah, I have major issues with following directions and doing things just the same as everyone else.  Especially when it comes to quilts. 

My grandmother made the most amazing quilts.  I don't think she ever made two alike.  My favorites were her Little Dutch Girl (Sunbonnet Sue) quilts, and her patchwork quilts.  Often, quilt pieces were made from old clothes, or leftover scraps from other sewing projects.  I have one quilt that contains pieces of fabric leftover from a skirt she made for me.  I don't have the skirt anymore...no idea whatever happened to it...but I do still have the quilt.  Another quilt contains many pieces made from her old dresses.  I can remember her wearing each of those dresses, and that makes the quilt even more special. 

When I mentioned making a new baby quilt, a friend of mine asked if I was going to buy one of those quilt making kits from a local fabric store.  Yikes.  I can't even imagine putting all that work and creative energy into something that...well...anyone could have one just like it.  I want my quilts to be as special to my loved ones as my grandmother's are to me.

The Cat Stairway To Heaven wall hanging is the only one that pretty much follows a pattern.  When I ran across the pattern online, I knew I had to make it for my mother in law.  She's an awesome lady and she adores cats.  She makes the most remarkable baskets, which have become family heirlooms already....maybe..if I ever pass them on to my kids.  For now, I'm hoarding them. lol

Cat Stairway To Heaven wall hanging


The checkerboards were inspired by something I saw in a catalog, and I made several for family members one Christmas.

Quilted Checkerboard

  The Fairy Dutch Girls were for Little Sis, when she still believed in fairies and adored pink. 

Fairy Dutch Girl Quilt

The hand print Christmas wall hanging was for my mom, who has made many outfits for my kids over the years, most of which I have put in a special box to be handed down to their own children.  I borrowed this back from her to make one for myself...eventually.

Hand print quilted wall hanging

I'm hoping to get a decent start on the new quilt once the holiday rush is over.  I have the design laid out in my head, but the fabric pattern changes with my mood.  I'll be honored if, one day, there's nothing left of the quilt but a worn out rag.  My grandmother made a pink quilt with bunnies on it, thinking that Biggest Brother would be a girl.  He wasn't, obviously, but he loved that quilt and drug it around for so many years that all the bunnies wore off, the filling wadded up in one corner, and it was ragged from end to end.  More than two decades later, he still has what's left of it, plus a lot of memories of his great granny. 

Quilts are really just warm hugs passed from generation to generation.

Run, run as fast as you can...

Wow..that's how I feel lately...like the Gingerbread Man.  Or woman.  Or whatever.  I could be the Gingerbread Grizzly Bear that ate the Gingerbread Santa, how's that?

I feel like I've run non-stop all week.  Wait.  That's because I have run non-stop all week!  Between projects, cleaning ....

 *Big Sis: -Annoying disconnected phone line noise- Country Wife is unavailable right now, she's running to re-stack the firewood that conveniently fell as she was attempting to sit down... and inform you of how she never sits down. -Hums the twilight zone theme-*

LOL...thanks for that public service announcement, Big Sis.  The wood is now re-stacked...sheesh...the dishes are done and the floor is swept...again.  Ok...so now I'm sitting down...and the pc is, for once, behaving...and I can't think of anything I'd planned to post!

While I am thinking of it, does anyone have a great sugar cookie recipe they'd like to share?  I think the one I normally use is just too poofy.  I don't really want poofy sugar cookies.  Buttery - yes.  Poofy- no.

Lazy Sunday

All is quiet here at the farmstead. 

Outside, the snow is falling.  A heavy, wet snow; the kind that sticks to the trees and makes great snowballs.  Eöl and Little Sis have already had the first snowball fight of the season, during the morning chores.

Inside, it's warm and toasty.  Eöl is napping in his favorite chair with his favorite dog.  One of them is snoring, but I think it's the dog.

The girls are off in other parts of the house, napping or working on Christmas lists.  Or maybe designing elaborate Santa traps that involve guillotines and chainsaws (like mother, like daughters).  Whatever they are doing, it's quiet.

My big plans for the day involve laying out my newest quilting project and some basic tidying of the house.  Life in the fast lane, dontcha know.

Hoping your Sunday is a peaceful one.

Almost Christmas?? ALREADY!!????

I can't believe Christmas is so close!  I haven't even started shopping yet!! ACK!!! ACKACKACKACK!

Lucky for me, no one on my list really wants much this year.  Everyone has asked for practical things.  Times like this, no tv is a true blessing!  We are not constantly bombarded with ads and tv shows telling us our lives are incomplete and pathetic because we do not own Product X.

Oddly enough, Eöl was just having a conversation with co-workers about the evils of television advertising aimed at children.  Several co-workers were complaining that, thanks to tv ads, their kids were demanding expensive and hard to find toys.  Eöl's response?  Turn off the tv.  Better yet, get rid of it. 

The co-workers gasped in horror as one.  Turn off the tv?? Get rid of the tv?  Oh, that's right, they say, Eöl is the weirdo that doesn't have tv.  What, they want to know, do your kids do instead? 

With a shrug, Eöl answers:  Play outside.  Read.  Do chores.  You know, kid stuff.

Eöl tells me the looks of amazement were something to behold.  Imagine, kids reading instead of watching tv.  Wow.

Yikes..that's all I can say.  Yes, we have a tv set.  It's an old one...not HD or digital or anything remotely cool or high tech. Just a plain ol' tv with a plain ol' dvd player, and also a...can you believe it...vhs player. No cable, no satellite, no channels.  We rarely turn it on in the summer, when the days are long and we are outside until late.  In the winter, it's nice to watch a movie and eat popcorn by a cozy fire, especially since it gets dark shortly after noon.  (At least it seems that way.)

Anyway, I guess the whole issue is redundant...I did a similar post a couple of years ago.  Still, it amazes me that turning off the tv never occurs to people.

So...back to Christmas being so close:  ACK! I say again ACK!

We have the tree up and decorated.  That's pretty much it.  I've been so busy working on projects, and then daily chores (do a project, clean the house, do a project, clean the house, etc etc etc), that I haven't even had much time to think about it.

We have snow already...a tad early, I think...but it looks like we may have a white Christmas, instead of a wet Christmas, for a change.

Christmas muzac has been blaring from Little Sis' room and Eöl's car since at least Halloween...and yet I'm just not feeling particularly Christmassy.  I guess that will change once the baking starts. 

Two weeks til Christmas Eve?? ACK ACK ACK ACKACKACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

**yawn**

I am sooo tired.  I am, however, making headway with my Huge List Of Things To Do.  I'll hopefully post some pics soon.  My pc/net is running slower than molasses in winter, and I just don't have the patience to wait for things to load.  As it is, I'm about ready to stab my pc with a fork until it promises to do better.

Something (probably a 'coon) ate two of my guineas last night.  I'll be adding Varmint Patrol to the list of things to do today.  I hope to coax the guineas back into their tractor tonight, but they prefer to roost in the trees.  Maybe they'll change their minds about that, after having friends chewed on while they tried to sleep.

I had some ideas for blog posts, but now that the page has finally loaded, I can't remember what they were.

I guess I'll get busy instead.