Imaginary blogging

I recently had conversations with some friends who wondered why I had stopped blogging.  It seemed like such an odd question because I felt like I HAD been blogging.

But I hadn't.   I assured them both that the next post was coming and it was going to be very entertaining.  Let's hope I succeed!

My process for blogging goes something like this:

Something happens that is interesting and I decide I should blog about it.  Then I spend some time pushing words around in my head.  I think about what I want to say, how I want to say it and I ponder the clever and entertaining aspects because heaven forbid I should be boring!  When I'm done pushing the words around, I dig out my laptop (because it's really the only time it comes out of the cupboard anymore) and I plug it in (because the battery is completely fried and it wont work without it) and I start it up.  Then I must go through a gazillion updates, error messages and spontaneous reboots.  THEN I fight our lousy internet (ever hear of ClearWire?) and eventually I put all those words down in what I hope is the right order and push the publish button. Where upon I immediately think of more clever ways I could have said something.

It's exhausting really.

Totally by accident I have stumbled upon this new and better way to blog:

Something happens that is interesting and I decide I should blog about it.  Then I spend some time pushing words around in my head.  I think about what I want to say, how I want to say it and I ponder the clever and entertaining aspects because heaven forbid I should be boring!    Then I just forget to do the rest.  I think I I've blogged, I feel like I've blogged and I don't have the frustrations of the computer and I never worry that I have made a typo or wasn't as clever as I could have been.

Apparently this new system doesn't work for everyone.

The cliff notes version of the posts that I have penned in my head in the last few months include:

Alpaca Maintenance:

Toenail trimming turns tragic! Cadbury kicks, drives trimmers through Peters hand.  

Alpaca Shearer wanted:

Looking for someone to help us shear our girls.  Called Camelot farms.  No response.  Called Shearers are Us.  No response.  Called MoonShadow Farms - referred us to Camelot farms (gah!) and SumFunShearing.  No response from either.  again.  Contacted The Camel people.  No response.  Contacted a girl in Olympia.  No response.  

New Handler Syndrome

Chupa has it.  I am sad.  

Applied for a new job!

No response.

Drowning in Zucchini

Zucchini bread.  Zucchini stew.  Zucchini boats.  Zucchini chips.  Zucchini salad.  Zucchini Zucchini Zucchini. 

Goats are NOT us

Seeking loving family for two high-maintenance goats.  Must promise not to eat them.  If you don't PROMISE you can't have them but you can have some zucchini.

Sparky has a personal chef

My beloved pup is unwell.  It is hard for her to eat so I am her personal chef.  She get's cheese omelets.  Chicken, hot dogs, fried dog food (not a hit), cat food, ice cream, cheese, zucchini..

Going to College

Taking an online food preservation course.  Learning how to can and freeze and dehydrate.  Not only do I get college credit but it will certainly come in handy for the zucchini.

Chicken update

We now have a thriving population of 12 chickens ~ 10 hens and 2 roosters.  Loving them!  

B&B

Pondering opening a bed and breakfast.  We only have one room but I've found a great zucchini fritatta I could feed guests for breakfast.

Sightseeing in Seattle

How many activities can YOU cram into a day in Seattle?

Master Jack, Ruler of the Universe

My grandson.

Imaginary Blogging

This one.  Except this post actually made it to the blog.

If I had actually managed to get these typed up it would have been a lot of blogging.  It sure felt like a lot of blogging.  I shall endeavor to try harder to do ALL the steps in successfully publishing posts.  Wish me luck!

Things to do.. Things to do..

Sometimes I long to sit on the sofa and veg with a book.  

Oh.  Wait.  I DO do that.  I just feel really guilty when I do.  Let me rephrase that.

Sometimes I long to sit on the sofa and veg with a book, or watch TV without feeling twinges of guilt that I should be doing something else or at least doing something in addition to watching TV.

There is no chance of getting bored around here.  I am getting a tad overwhelmed by all the things waiting for my attention so the other day I decided to make a list on the white board in SharonTopia thinking it would help me feel in control.

What that meant, of course that the first thing on my to-do list became making an actual list.  I couldn't find a marker so I decided on making my list here.  (Much easier than looking for a marker.. not.)

1.  Kitchen Floor.  I started it over a year a go and it is now my top priority.  I've been working hard on it in the last two weeks or so and I'm over 1/2 way done.  I have promised myself that I will clear at least 1 square foot of floor each day.  At that pace, I should be done in a month.

2.  Hawaiian shirt quilt.  This has been on my to-do list for 2 years - although I just started it a few months ago.  It is second on my priority list because it's currently cluttering up my dining room.  In order to make it available to be worked on, the table and chairs and all other dining room "stuff" is shoved into a corner. Not conducive to romantic candle lit dinners for two at the table or enjoying the dining room in any way.

3.  Ear Brassiere.  A small project.  But I started it as a Christmas Present for a co-worker.  It's March now.  Sigh...  I had it almost finished two nights ago when I discovered a huge error early in the project.  I had to rip it all out and start over.  Now I'm more than 1/2 way done.  If I hadn't made that mistake I would be done.  Very frustrating and now I really just want it gone.  Out of my life forever.  I hate it and I want to kill it.  

4.  Beaded scarf.  Another project I am more than 1/2 way done on.  I really love the effect of the beads in the knitting.  I love it so much I started a second one (with sparkly beads and jewel toned yarn) before I finished this one.  Big mistake.  Huge.  Now both sit gathering dust.

5.  Woven Rug.  I got the crazy idea for this project when we were in Florida in September.  I really really want to do this.  Almost bad enough to move it to position #1.  This is my self-imposed lesson in self-control.  I will NOT even start it until the floor and the quilt are done.  I will most probably get serious about it as soon as I can and I think it may be helping to motivate me on those priority projects. I have been gathering the things I need to make this and all the parts are sitting on the loom ready to go.  Oh.. I want to do this. 

6.  Shrugigan.  This project I started in 2010 - When I was still working.  Peter gives me grief on a regular basis over this project.  I mostly want to get it done so I can wave it about in his face saying "Ha Ha Ha Ha! Neener Neener Neener!!" and doing a most ridiculous dance.  Once it's done I suspect it will go into a drawer and never be looked at again.

7.  Woven basket.  A fun little project.  This one is a good "car project" or for taking places that require waits.  I've made a couple small baskets and it's a fun technique.  I'm not in a hurry to get this done and it's really only on my list because it's started and does need to be finished.  Eventually.

8.  Shearing.  It's spring.  The Alpacas haven't been sheared in nearly two years.  It's time.  It's more than time.  They are shaggy and filthy and complete wrecks.  This is Cheeka.  Of course, once they are sheared then I'll have pounds and pounds of fiber that will need cleaning and washing and carding and spinning and.. Yikes!!  What was I thinking???

9.  Silk spinning.  Because I enjoy torture.  Spinning silk is a completely different thing than spinning other fibers.  Silk is fine and delicate.  I can even only TOUCH the silk when my hands are in the best condition.  If they are dry or cracked they snag the fiber something awful.  I most certainly can't touch it after working on the floor or messing with concrete.  Silk has intrigued me since I first learned to spin.  I have often looked at silk and silently ogled it.  A few months ago a fellow spinner gave me this "hanky" of silk.  Now it must be included on the to-do list.

10.  Cleaning Pads.  Back when I lived in Salem and Peter and I installed the wood flooring in my house I bought a swiffer sweeper with a large box of disposable pads for it.  I just used the last one this week.  Clever me, with time on my hands, has decided to make reusable swiffer sweeper pads out of an old towel.  It should be a quick project.  I may even sneak this one in before I'm done with the kitchen floor.  After all, I will need to be able to clean the floor once the lino is pulled up..

11.   Soap.  I need to make more soap.  I WANT to make soap.  I've been gathering supplies at discount prices.  I scored on 99 cent bottles of Olive Oil, a clearance on lard (yum!) and other assorted things.  I'm ready.  But where do I find the time??

12.  Blogging.  This is a continuing to-do.  I confess it's getting hard to write creatively.  My life is more boring than it used to be.  I assume any readers I have left aren't interested in daily postal fun, or the fact that the cat likes to sit in a box or it rained, again.  Blogging takes time and when something interesting IS going on, finding the time for quality and entertaining documentation is challenging.

All of these things are just the "my" projects.  As the weather improves we have a driveway to finish, the garage to convert, a garden to plant, additional pastures to build, SharonTopia to finish and so much more.  It's a good thing I don't have a dead line.  I tell myself to just keep plodding along and it will eventually get done, breath deep and relax.  And most importantly, appreciate the fact that I'm in a position to do these things at all.

I feel better.

I'm Pickled Tink!

Our garden is flourishing and bursting with fresh vegetable goodness.  This beckoned to the pioneer woman in me to get busy.  We must not waste any of our precious bounty!

Last year I wanted to make sweet pickles but was dissuaded by Peter.  "How many pickles can we eat anyway?" He asked.  I didn't have an answer and gave in.  This year, I decided to make pickles despite his previous hesitation.  I asked my farm girl friends.  They had no experience with sweet pickles.  Dill pickles, yes, sweet, not so much.  I asked women at the grocery store and women on my mail route.  No one had ever made sweet pickles.  I looked in my oldest cook books and I looked on the internet finding many recipes, no two alike.  No consensus on a good recipe.  Finally I just closed my eyes and picked one.  I didn't know what I was doing but decided to just go for it!  I do like surprises!

Sweet pickles are interesting things.  They are not something you spend an afternoon making.  It's an 8 day process (or 7 day or 12 day - depending on the recipe you blindly pick out of a book).  Each day only takes a few minutes, and the last three days they just sit there.

Wednesday was day 8 and they went from pot to jars.  9 jars to be exact.  The directions stated they should sit a week in jars before they are ready to eat but today I had to try 'em.  They were good and I bet they'll get better in the coming days!

I'm excited and I'm guessing my answer to Peter's question:  "How many pickles can we eat?"  will be "9 jars I think!"

Yummy!

I'm such a sucker

My vegetable garden is sooooo tiny I bought one of those upside down tomato plant pots to make the most of the room I have. Afterall.. I have one of these in the photo below..

It may work. I hope it works. The commercials indicate it will work. Then again, according to commercials, eating Dorito's will make me sexy and a G.I. Joe Action figure can actually rescue Barbie from an alien invasion...

I'm working on a bag for Jill. I wasn't going to show it to you.. but I'm afraid you won't believe I'm working on something. I really am. I'm knitting. and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting. . . I may actually get sick of knitting before I'm done with this thing (probably not.. but maybe!) Keep in mind that the squares on the floor are 12 inches. That makes this thing already about 18 inches long.. and I have SOOOOOOO much more to go. Then I will felt it.. then it will be much smaller with some shape and style. So I hope.. felting is such a big unknown...

The good news.. I think I have the knitting thing down. At least the basics. I'm already researching my next project. Peters mother gave me a bunch of wool to do with what I want.. but I can't decide what.. and Peter gave me yarn to knit him a hat.