Pardon the Garden

Confessions of a lazy wannabe homesteader

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The new craft room.

August 6, 2015 Marie 1 Comment

craft-room-done craft-room-done2 craft-room-done3

While this space isn’t fully done, I’m considering it done enough to share at the moment. Tuesday evening my sister very kindly helped me move that dresser and my grandma’s sewing table into the room, and I spent a good portion of Wednesday morning moving my craft supplies in. I apparently live in the land of delusion when it comes to my stuff. I originally thought everything would fit nicely into that dresser – and by everything I mean yarn, fabric, paint, etc. It seemed reasonable to think that all the things I had would fit cram into a few drawers of a dresser. Oh, the lies we tell ourselves.

Not even all my yarn fits into the drawers. That little mesh bin next to the dresser is currently playing host to my acrylics while I figure out something else. The fabric… well, it’s still downstairs. There’s still a bit of stuff to get rid of in the room’s closet so once that’s gone I’ll have to figure out another option. Hanging shelves on the rod in the closet? Plastic Rubbermaid drawers? I don’t even know. I can say that there isn’t a ton left to find a home for, at least. The bulk of it was definitely my yarn, and I think having it in these drawers will help me use up some of my stash since it’s more easily accessible versus buried in a bag in the closet. Someone on G+ suggested vacuum bags to compress the air out of the yarn and free up space, and I’m definitely not beyond trying that to make it all work. I’d purge more of it but at this point I’m feeling like everything that is left is stuff I want to keep and will use.

In other news, the stove is hooked up and works! And, wouldn’t you know it, I’m due for a serious grocery run so there isn’t really even anything to cook so I can use it! I fried eggs this morning for breakfast because it’s all I had, so tonight I’ll have to plan a grocery list and tomorrow start baking/cooking ALL the things again.

I have a few things to finish up cleaning-wise around the house this afternoon, and then tomorrow commences the Busy Weekend of Birthday Things. We’re going to attempt to do our own 1 year photos of the Little Mr, then there will be much cooking and last minute gift making (“if I start this now, I’ll have plenty of time to finish it before August,” I said in April) and party prepping, and then Saturday family will be arriving for what is looking to be a small party for the little one. Busy, busy, busy, this August is starting out to be!

Featured, Posts home, knitting

I don’t even care that I can’t cook on it yet.

August 4, 2015 Marie Leave a Comment

new-stove

So… this got delivered today. New carpet yesterday, new stove today – it feels a bit like I’ve won the lottery even though, in reality, we’ve worked hard to save money up to be able to buy these things. I’m beyond excited! I’ve wanted a new stove since… well, since we bought the house. We’ve been using the one that came with the place and it was falling apart and never cooked very well. The husband told me for my birthday he had a few ideas: a new smartphone, a FitBit, or a new stove. Despite my cracked screen I really don’t need a new phone, and I’m not really all that interested in a FitBit, but a stove? HELL YES!

I was originally only in the market for a single oven with the 5 gas burners (and the middle burner HAD to be a long one). But then I was presented the option of getting a double oven – in his paraphrased words, “If we’re buying a new one you might as well get the double oven like I know you want.” See, we host Thanksgiving every year. And every year I start thinking about how I need a new stove. And while I’ve only ever thought about single ovens because of the price difference, I’ve certainly dreamed about a double oven to multi-task things that get made for dinner. I would have been stupid to turn that proposal down.

So after some drama and much arguing (I had found a double oven like I wanted on clearance for a really good deal but was told “we don’t have to buy anything today”, which put quite the damper on the joy of getting a birthday present), we scored this one. And you know, it turned out to be an even better deal than the first one I found. The 60% off kind of better. As impatient and angry as I was about it two weeks prior, that day totally made up for it.

I can’t use it yet, sadly. It turns out that the old gas line that runs behind the stove was unhooked when our new furnace was put in. My dad came over Sunday to try to hook it back up but was missing a piece so I’m waiting for him to come back in a day or two and finish the job. Until then I’m eating either microwaved foods or stuff I can make right out of the fridge, which is really just fine since it’s summer and I’m not really wanting anything hot anyway. As soon as it’s hooked up, though, I’ll be baking and cooking ALL the things for a while :)

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Almost there.

August 3, 2015 Marie Leave a Comment

craft-room

This room… it’s been long neglected since we moved in. Originally the stepson’s room, we ran out of time (and money) to do much with it, so he was stuck with ugly old red carpet and half-assed painted walls left from the previous residents. When he moved out, the room was shut up and ignored except for the handful of times I shoved a thing or two in there to store until later (namely, the twin bed that was in the former guest/craft room until I was booted out to make room for kids). It felt weird to take it over right away – I didn’t know if he’d want to move back and I didn’t want the room clean out to happen too quickly and hurt his feelings. I’m not sure what the etiquette is on cleaning out an empty room, but it’s been a few years so it feels more okay now.

It started with paint. Fresh paint was the easy part, and I’m saying that as someone who totally hates painting. Then I pulled up a corner of the carpet, which was a ridiculous disaster! I’ve ripped out carpet before, but I’ve never ripped out this particular type with the padding and carpet in one, and glued down to the wood floors. With one portion pulled up, it just felt like I might as well get it over with and put all new carpet in before I put furniture back. Much scraping and cursing and sweeping ensued with about 4 trash bags full of the remnants of the padding. But! Joy! New carpet is so lovely and really does make this room the place I envisioned when I started picking colors. I scored a remnant piece at a local carpet store, which saved me several hundred dollars. I have about $450 in this room so far with paint, spackle, carpet, etc – that’s it. Not too shabby, really.

I’ve purged TONS of things this last week cleaning this room out. We took a kids-type couch thing to the husband’s workplace for their teen room, plus several car loads of Goodwill donations (a TV, bags of clothes, decorative things, etc) And I still have more to go tomorrow. I’m trying to purposefully keep this room minimalistic, partially because hi, I don’t need half the stuff I already have, and partially because it’s all fresh and clean at the moment and I want to keep that feeling.

There’s definitely irony in wanting to be more minimalist yet having a room dedicated to crafts. I know that. Is it necessary? Definitely not. Could I make do with where my crafts are now and just purge more to free up space? Absolutely. But… we have this 4th bedroom. I can’t make it disappear, and moving to a smaller house isn’t an option at the moment. And it seems like an absolute waste to just keep the room shut up and never used, never looked at, etc. So, it’s a compromise. And it’s certainly getting me to let go of a lot of things we don’t use/need, so I think it balances out.

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All is calm

December 22, 2014 Marie 1 Comment

knitting1

A peacefully napping baby, a mellow (and temporarily clean) living room, and knitting by holiday lights as the dawn arises. The calm before the holiday storm.

(Knitting is just a basic double-stranded garter stitch blanket, using up some acrylic I’ve had hanging around for a while. It’s not the prettiest thing, but it’ll be a fantastic toddler-sized blanket for the baby’s crib for next winter.)

Featured, Posts holidays, home, knitting, winter

Hello, snow!

November 17, 2014 Marie Leave a Comment

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We spent the evening at my mom and dad’s for a birthday dinner and came out to our cars to find the lightest, sweetest coating of snow on everything. This morning we awoke to the most perfect scene – beautiful snow clinging to the tree branches ever so gently, the wind perfectly calm, and an overall quiet that has settled in the neighborhood which muffles even the noisiest vehicles (we’re on a busy street so it’s much appreciated to have a bit of a break from all that noise). I’m trying to so very hard to get through Thanksgiving before I start decorating for the winter holidays but this snow is not helping one bit. I want to dig out all the glitter and shiny things and make the house merry and bright. I want to string the lights up on the porch to make the house glow so lovely-like. I want to bake sugar cookies and make hot cocoa and snuggle on the couch to watch holiday movies.

But, first, we must get through Thanksgiving.

Featured, Posts fall, home, nature

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