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Confessions of a lazy wannabe homesteader

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Sun and spinning

May 13, 2018 Marie Leave a Comment

Mother’s Day. A whole mix of emotions usually floods me today, stemming from years of being an unappreciated stepmom. This year feels… different, not necessarily good or bad. Just, neutral. Which I suppose is an improvement, at least.

The day has been pretty typical. Breakfast, grocery store trip, and just generally hanging out. I bought the new Peter Rabbit movie (since I do love Peter Rabbit, after all), and we snuggled up on the couch this morning and watched it while I knit on a sock. I’m obsessed with the cottage Bea lives in. Obsessed.

Today was still motherhood duty, of course. I had tried to spend some time in my craft room doing some organizing and general tidying up. I bought a peg board from Ikea, attempting to get some things off surfaces to look less cluttered (nevermind that I really need to just realize that my life is forever different with a kid and I should just give up the majority of what I have because I’ll never get around to it again). But, of course, the kid had other plans. A few meltdowns later, we ended up snuggled in my bed trying to get a nap in. Then we spent some time outside, me spinning on my wheel and him spraying water everywhere (“washing” the garage, the car, making muddy puddles in the grass, etc). It was SO nice to be able to sit outside and enjoy the weather and spin.

The fiber I’m spinning is just okay – a bit felted and hard to spin and not what I would consider soft, so I’m just winging it and letting the yarn be what it wants to be. I don’t even remember who dyed it, what the fiber is, etc. It’ has been in my stash for a while, though. I’m thinking a 3-ply for some handspun mitts, most likely, because I can’t see this yarn being anything next to the more sensitive skin areas like my neck.

Posts spinning, spring

Spring spinning

May 4, 2018 Marie Leave a Comment

Hi friends! How are you all? I didn’t realize that it has been since December since I’ve posted. We’ve been busy, and I’ve stayed occupied, but I just haven’t thought to write much I guess. I just completed a college class this week, the first of trying to finish my degree, so that has occupied much of my mind. They are accelerated classes, so we are cramming in a whole semester of classes into 6-7 weeks. I’m on a month-long break before I jump back into more classes in June so I am trying to cram in as much “fun” in as I can before I go back to being consumed by studying.

So far, I’ve finished spinning up some yarn I’ve had on the wheel for a while. It is a lovely merino/rose/stellina blend that started off so very bright and overly glittery-looking and has mellowed upon plying. I wasn’t sure I’d like it even after plying but now I’m so absolutely in love with it. I only need time to knit it up into something, though I’d have to decide what to make out if it, first!

The munchkin is sick today, with yet another ear infection, so we’ve hung out and relaxed and just spent time together. I feel like he needed more mommy time than anything with having that class for the last 7 weeks. Despite him feeling ill, he still wants to play and be outside, so we took some time before the rain came in to pick a batch of violets from the yard for some more jelly. I haven’t made jelly in so long that my pantry is depleted! Can you believe that?! Me. With a bare, jelly-free pantry. So it is perfect timing to get more made. The farmer’s market starts next week, too, and I can’t wait to see what all goodies I can find there, too. I can’t wait for fresh strawberries for jam, and peaches from the Peach Truck!

Overall I feel like nearly everything is in a pretty good place right now. Life isn’t perfect, but I feel very much like I’m in a better place at the moment with making progress on my education goals, having a job that actually encourages me to stay home with my sick kid and not make me feel bad about it, etc.

Posts spinning, spring

Winter solstice

December 21, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

Oh, my heart! ♥ Tonight, for Solstice, we strung up apples, oranges, and cranberries to hang on the tree out front. It was absolutely everything I hoped for, as far as a project to do with the Little Mr. I’ve never given him a needle and thread to just play with, so I wasn’t entirely sure if he would have the concept down or even be able to get the chunky needle through the cranberries, but he went to town. Well, as much as a 3 year old has the patience for it, anyway. But he seemed to love the project, and we trudged out to the cold, dark yard to hang them on the tree.

I think this might end up being a yearly Solstice tradition for us.

Featured, Posts family, holidays, Little Mr, nature, winter

It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

December 17, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

Hi friends. How are you? Things around here are slowly but surely getting into a rhythm and new routines. I switched jobs last month, which has been very much helpful overall to my mental health and sanity. Slowly I am starting to feel more like myself, which has meant more baking and crafting and, overall, the things I used to do and love.

With the holidays coming up, I’ve thrown myself into my holiday treat making. This week we made candied orange peels, while the Little Mr chowed down on the oranges when he was supposed to be juicing them for our breakfast orange juice. I can’t complain, really, because it kept him occupied. We played Christmas music and danced and laughed and, overall, had a lovely time together in the kitchen. Today I’m baking molasses cookies, and I’m supposed to be baking chocolate mint cookies, too, but at the rate I’m going I might just do those later this week. Now that I’m not stressed so much I’m finding that I actually have energy to come home and bake and cook again, so it’s easier to plan on that.

I think I’ve also decided to go full ahead with the garden again, this year. Can you believe that? Who knew a bad job could suck so much life out of you?! I’ve even begun thinking of 2018 and how I want to do things differently, now that I have some room to breathe again. Be more centered, I guess, and conscious of the ways I’m spending my time. I’ve started journaling (in a real, paper journal) because some things just aren’t really meant for the public to read and I think that’s helped a lot with some things. I want to start reading again, too. Right now I’m kind of cheating the system and borrowing ebooks from the library to read on my kindle and then turning off network so I still have the book long after my loan expires…. It’s taking me far too long to read a book these days and that’s a shame, really. So if you’ve got any book recommendations, please pass them my way!

I’m trying to think of something to do with the Little Mr for Solstice. It’s something I always want to do and then we never do. Maybe some bird seed ornaments for the tree outside? A craft of some sort? I haven’t decided what, exactly, I want to teach him about the solstice. Part of me loves the folklore/pagan roots of it all, so maybe we’ll explore that.

Nothing new to really report, craft-wise. I have more projects on the needles than I really need and I’ve had a commission or two come up from totally knit-worthy people, so I need to get a move on with those. I’ve always said I wouldn’t take on omissions for my work, but I’ve started making the exception for people I know will truly appreciate the items and so far it’s been a really enjoyable experience. I have been spinning, slowly, too – working on a bit of pretty fiber that I might use to make a pair of mittens out of. I think that’s going to be part of my 2018 goals, too – to spin more, and then actually use my yarn.

Posts food, holidays, Little Mr, winter

Maybe this is just what we needed

October 9, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

Pears

I kept busy this weekend with canning. The store had some produce on sale, so I came home with ingredients to make strawberry lemon jam, more sriracha peach sauce, apples for applesauce, cider for a mustard glaze (need to find the mustard seed in bulk, first), and got to work. And then, today, after going thrift store shopping for clothes for the Little Mr (because winter is coming and he’s growing like a weed), my mom handed me this. A giant basket of free pears straight from her tree. Free produce to can and preserve and feed us through winter, should we need it.

Maybe this job loss is what I needed. A reason to get back to my roots, my canning and preserving and being more frugal. Though, it probably would have been better if I had been the one to lose my job, instead, so I’d have more time to make foods from scratch for cheap… but it is what it is.

Anyone have some pear recipes they love they’re willing to share?

Featured, Posts fall, food, handmade wardrobe, preserving

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