JeepersSheepers

Home Projects Galore!

2009-10-18T10:56:00.005-04:00

The weather is cool and inspiring here right now so we have been busy bees doing our respective projects. Since I covered Paul's major project last time, I am only including one picture here of him working on the same project. Now he is sanding and painting, hoping to complete this weekend.
I have been doing field work the last two weeks in Kinston, NC. So I stopped by my favorite antique store: Some Like it Old. I bought the cute blue table, coffee pot and oil lamp shown below.

And also the table behind the couch here..

And a piano bench and lamp. The deals were too good to pass up.

But yesterday, we had the most unique, impulsive experience. A furniture distributor showed up on our street with his 18 wheeler, selling boxed furniture right out of his truck. They had cabinets, coffee tables, dressers, couches and these beautiful grandfather clocks which excited me very much (I love clocks and old pocket watches). Well, we bought one, and I didn't even have to plead with Paul too much. The guy brought it in, got it started and gave us some operating instructions and we were proud new clock owners in about 15 minutes from start to finish.

Another exciting thing that has happened is that I finally finished the bedroom curtains. I have been working on them each weekend, doing only one curtain each week, and only portions at a time. For example, I did the side seems on one curtain each week until that was finished. Then I added the heading tape (which I had to buy online from England because I couldn't find it here) to one curtain each week. And lastly, I hand sewed the hems, one curtain each week. Finally a few months later, they are done!

Yesterday, I started painting the basic outline of my tree design on the dining room ceiling. I have been designing and contemplating this for a long time, and with the curtains finished upstairs, it was time to get started. I had drawn out the basic forms on graph paper to the scale of the ceiling and so it was pretty easy to get everything sketched on (last weekend) and then painted. I decided to do a rough outline in dark brown first, and then next available weekend I will do a blue wash of the sky with clouds. I'm hoping the brown trees will show through so then I can pick back up with the trees once the background is in. I didn't think it would work to do the sky and then try to sketch the trees over the paint.

Yesterday, after painting, I went to pick up a bushel of apples from a lady I know through church. She had taken orders from anyone that wanted some and was taking a trip up to an apple orchard to bring back everyone's apples (out of the kindness of her heart). So, being that this would be a big event, I also borrowed Shauna's steamer again and apple peeler/slicer/corer. Paul helped me with the peeler contraption and together we canned 14 quarts of apple slices for apple pie. The blueberry pies have turned out so well from our spring blueberry-picking extravaganza, we decided to give the apples a shot.
Earlier yesterday I put all the jars and lids in the dishwasher. Once I brought home the apples, Paul peeled, cored and sliced.

Then I had to blanch the apples for 3 minutes, one batch at a time, in hot sugar water to stop discoloration and preserve flavor.

The next step was to pour the water used for blanching into the jars.

Then, the lids that had been simmering in water had to be placed on the jars with the rings tightened finger tight. 7 quarts at a time were placed in the steamer and steamed for 20 minutes. The jars were removed and the rings were tightened all the way. Lastly, the jars were flipped upside-down on a towel, as per Marie's secret advice. She says this is the trick to making sure that none "pop" overnight (or become unsealed).

The last project that has been ongoing for a few weeks, is I'm spinning my very first 5-ply yarn. The yarn is a blend I've created on my drum carder from Merino wool, opossum down, yak down and soy silk. Each batch I've blended on the carder consists of 3 grams of the Merino/opossum blend, 1 gram of soy silk and 2 grams of yak down. I bought all of these from The Woolery online. I've spun a very fine yarn and wound onto 5 toilet paper rolls. I learned from my online research that to keep the yarn strands separate you need to use a template with 5 holes or a spice jar lid with the holes. I was excited about this because who doesn't have one of those in their kitchen? So, I have mine placed between my fingers on the right below (you can't really see it), and I'm gradually spinning the strands together while keeping a firm grip on the strands to keep them from tangling.

A few weeks ago I had fun time volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in Charlotte. My company was provided half the labor of volunteers and a local bank was providing the rest of the volunteers.
I was assigned to help with the roofing crew- very scary. The floor of the roof wasn't up yet, just the trusses. So my job was to partner with Joe to put the plywood flooring onto the trusses.

Joe was a banker and so none too experienced in roofing either. So we had some good laughs.
Actually, I was the only one from my company that was able to make it that day so everyone except me was a banker. But once Joe and I got the first row of the roof down, the rest was much more comfortable. The rest of the day was just swinging a hammer to get the rest of the kajillion nails in. I was moaning and groaning all the next day since I hadn't been this sore since I ran a half marathon in 1998ish.

Here I am above, and here is the house we were working on. The future home-owner was also there working on the house.
Oh my goodness, I forgot about these pictures. Well, this is one of our new dinner combos: Yorkshire Pudding by Paul and Zucchini cakes with tomato sauce by Yours Truly, compliments of the internet for the recipe. I had some zucchinis that weren't going to last long and Paul was wanting some Yorkshires something fierce, so we comboed the two into a surprisingly tasty dinner! As I've been blogging for a fair bit of time, I'm not going to post the recipe now, but I'll try to remember for next time.

An embroidery project that I'm working on for Darla. I'm making a sweatshirt with cheerleaders and football players for her dad for Christmas and this was a practice run of a few of the characters to figure out where the problems might be. I'm learning heaps on this project!

Fall Is In the Air

2009-09-27T20:23:00.005-04:00

We have been doing loads of projects and having fun around the house the last few weekends starting with a long Labor Day weekend. The weather has been cooler and so it has been more fun to be outside than it was in August. Even the critters seem to be enjoying it!

My plants have been thriving too...

The "Trifids" have been catching lots of bugs in their pitcher-like mouths and have been multiplying like rabbits.

The two redwood trees I got in the late spring have each grown about a foot (behind the bear)!

Tracy's birthday was last weekend...

and we've done a bike ride or two...

Yep, it's still humid.... see hair.

... but that didn't stop Paul!

He poured his own sweat into making some shelves for the Star Wars room, even learning to use 3 new power tools: the router...

Table saw and lastly a bisquit-joiner (not shown).

He covered the garage and himself from head to toe in sawdust in the process.

... and then collapsed.

Maybe next week I'll show what projects I was working on. For now, it's dinner time. Goodnight!

Cooking Tip from the Sister-in-Law

2009-09-05T14:45:00.003-04:00

Straight in off the press -- Alison passed a message along to me through Paul, that if you want to have an easier time chopping rutabaga (or swede, as it's called in England), boil it for a few minutes and then chop it. Gone are my troubles with rutabaga- I love the veg but will cook with it often now that I know how to minimize the trouble of preparing it.

Capitol Visit Part 2

2009-09-05T13:14:00.004-04:00

Sunday morning we all decided, after Nate had made us a fancy breakfast, that the zoo was first on the list. The cheetahs were the highlight for me.
Lunch time already? Well it was 3:00 by then and we all had planned a trip to this Indian buffet as priority to fit somewhere in the weekend. So we high-tailed it there after the zoo and were lucky to get there a 1/2 hour before the buffet closed down. We all ate too fast, in hopes of getting seconds, so was it worth it? You betcha!

Laura and Nate dropped us off at the Memorials again, since we didn't have time the day before to finish them, and they headed off to church.

First we went to Lincoln's memorial - a favorite.

We loved that we could see the Washington Monument from between the columns of Lincoln Memorial.

Then we trekked the Mile and half or so to get to the Jefferson Memorial across the lake, but in the process came across the Roosevelt memorial, which was filled of many of his wonderful quotes. Here is just one portion of the large memorial that wandered like a trail through his life.

The Jefferson Memorial was my favorite as far as beauty, although they were all magnificent in the uniqueness of each that represented very distinct and influential heroes.

Jefferson had a cool ponytail tied with a bow, but it didn't show up very good here.

A few hours later we were all hanging out at a bar and grill enjoying the beautiful weather outdoors while sharing appetizers and drinks. We hung out and talked for hours before heading back to go to sleep.

We had to leave Monday morning from Union Station after Nate left for work. We had to ask Laura to take us to Target to buy a blanket for the train trip back because the air on the train is kept at 60 degrees we are convinced.

It was sad to go, but we were not bored on the long trip back with all the entertainment we brought. Between naps I did plenty of spinning on my drop spindle, reading, knitting and movie watching on the laptop, and Paul watched movies.

We had such a fun weekend, and although it felt like it went fast, it was the perfect combination of sightseeing and relaxation, with nothing over-powering or taxing in effort. We came home feeling so refreshed and had so much fun spending time with the cousins. I am sorry to see them go, but I'm sure they will have the greatest life experiences traveling abroad.

A few days after coming home I made a huge pasta casserole using the basil Laura sent home from her herb garden. Nothing like fresh basil!! Thanks, Laura and Nate, for such a great weekend-- We will miss you!!

Capitol Visit

2009-08-29T20:42:00.007-04:00

Whew! Been a busy month with work - no traveling, but report-writing mania that took over my body and soul (so it seemed). So, no blogging or picture-taking until last weekend. It was great timing: Paul and I needed a break from work, and my cousin invited us up for a visit, so we got away for an extended weekend to visit my cousin Laura and her husband Nate in Washington D.C. They are getting ready to move, and we wanted to see them before they left the east coast.

Last Friday, we got up at 4:00 and drove to the Light Rail on the outskirts of Charlotte because we have seen the Amtrak station in Uptown, and didn't want to leave our car there for the four days. It was a good choice! We took the Light Rail into Uptown, and then caught the bus to the Amtrak station. This did take a coordinated effort to figure out what time we needed to catch the bus, which route and how to work it. We got it down, thanks to a very patient bus driver. Once we got on the train, it was smooth sailing and we had plenty to do: movies to watch on our laptop, knitting, books to read and we even spent time talking to each other, despite all the media devices. We arrived in D.C about 10 hours later, quite refreshed after all the naps.

First thing we did when Laura and Nate picked us up was eat dinner and head to the county fair to see if Laura won a prize for her oatmeal cookies she submitted. They were very good cookies and figured the judges must have erred.

We were pretty tired after that and headed to "Bedfordshire" as Paul calls it, waking up at a decent time to hit the sites the next morning. We started the day by going to Market Lunch for breakfast- a fun experience where good food is served at a price: "No Saving Seats". It was a free for all once you got your food- you had to hurry and sit down on the bench. Paul had his tea and sat down to save me a seat while I rounded up condiments on our tray and put syrup on the pancakes. By the time (30 seconds later) that I got to where I thought Paul was sitting, he had already been whisked away by the bus boy, who said that tea does not count as having your food, and he must vacate until he has his food. While stressful, it was worth it and worth the half hour wait in line to order your food.

We wandered around the outdoor market after that and spent some time in Capitol Books- a very intriguing used book store that was loaded literally from top to floor with books. It was an old house so there were books in the "bathroom" books in the sink, books in every bedroom and even lining the stairs.

We all went to a museum and to the White House and then Laura and Nate had a wedding to go to, so Paul and I continued to wander around to see the Capitol....

And to the national botanic garden...

...And then the fog and rain set in so we high-tailed it into the National Air and Space Museum so Paul could check out all the planes and space craft. It was pretty interesting, even for me.

By the end of the day, the rain had cleared out all but the most stalwart of tourists and so we got to see the Declaration of Independence with hardly any wait at all. It was wonderful to see the most important documents of our nation in person.

Then the sun peaked out, just to say goodnight as we made it to the Washington Memorial.

More to come on the next day... later! I'm heading to bed. Goodnight everyone.

Blueberries Canned!

2009-07-29T13:12:00.003-04:00

Success! Monday night I rushed home from work after stopping to buy 5 lbs. of sugar, logged onto the Internet to check out how to can blueberries and called my friend Shauna to have her on stand-by to answer any "help me" questions. Shauna and her mother-in-law are Queens of Canning (I nearly said "Queens of the Can" but that wouldn't be accurate nor flattering).

I was going to can my blueberry pie filling, but there were technicality issues with using tapioca or cornstarch as the thickening agent. I didn't want to mess with any technicality issues on my first experience, thinking it's best to keep it simple. pickyourown.org

Here is a simplified version of what I had to do, but please check out knowledgeable websites if you want to do this at home. There are a lot of safety precautions associated with canning.

1) First, I had to clean all the bottles and lids in hot soapy water.
2) Next, I sorted, cleaned and removed any stems of 2 gallons of blueberries (took a millennium). 3) Then I calculated my sugar and water ratio for the syrup using the handy dandy table on the pick-your-own website (for 7 quarts, I did 12 cups of water to 2.5 cups of sugar-light syrup).
4) Began heating the syrup to near boiling.
5) Added my 2 TBSP lemon juice to each of the jars.
6) Packed in the berries and heated the jars in very warm water so that when I poured the hot syrup into the jars, they didn't crack.
7) Tighten the lids semi-tight, but not very tight
8) Steamed the jars on a fruit steamer for 20 minutes (once the steam built up to full steam)
9) Remove jars and tighten lids tight, tight.
10) Shauna says that her mother-in-law says that flipping the jars upside-down afterwards is the trick to getting them to seal properly. It worked! None "popped" open as they are known to do sometimes.

Here are the blueberries with the syrup and lemon juice ready for steaming..

...on the steamer..
... and flipped to prevent popping, cooling overnight.

Note: don't uses any nice towels for this. Since the lids are not ultra tight on the steamer, the juice ran all down the jars and all into the steamer tray, so that when I took them out I got blueberry juice all over this nice white towel.

Blueberry Delight

2009-07-25T21:06:00.004-04:00

The last few weekends have been so enjoyable. I think my relief at having a job and feeling more restful with a few months of no work travel has made me feel progressively happier. Paul and I have spent more enjoyable, quality time together rather than just chores.

Today we had early plans to meet up with some folks from my church at a somewhat local blueberry farm 45 minutes away on the backroads. Everyone came equipped with hungry tummies and busy hands ready to do the picking. Paul and I picked a gallon of blueberries each and had a great time with the group, chatting and eating and picking.

I had bought some mason jars last week in anticipation of bottling the berries to supply our blueberry pie cravings for the year, and I was suprised to see our 2 gallons, which should have been 8 quarts, actually turn into 9 quarts! Somehow our buckets must have been bigger than 2 gallons. I think that 9 pies is definitly enough for the year. Shauna is bringing me her steamer to church tomorrow and gave me some instructions on how to bottle fruit, so I'll be giving it a shot this week.

Last weekend we putzed around in the yard and worked on our own projects. Paul continued designing his Darth Vader costume.

And I worked on sewing the lining onto the backs of our curtain fabric.

Oh, yeah- and some embroidery too. I'm trying to build my embroidery portfolio one item at a time.

Tomorrow evening we have plans to go with Tracy to Jamie's house, and he's taking us all out on his boat for a ride around Lake Wylie.

A Blessed Weekend

2009-07-10T10:02:00.003-04:00

This 4th of July weekend was an especially reflective weekend for me. As it is, it is one of my favorite holidays because it means so much to me that we are a free country. Watching the fireworks and seeing our flag always makes me so thankful to be where we are and for the sacrifices of many. It is also a subject of kidding between Paul and I because he likes to say that I feel I have an advantage over him as I am from the country that is proud to have kicked his country out!

This weekend I thought about many additional things that I'm thankful for, including my new job that I just started last week. I am one of the lucky few who finished a job on Friday and got to start my new job on the following Monday. With so many looking for jobs right now, it made me feel so thankful and also so sad. Saying that, the last few weeks were very stressful as we finished the house repairs, I was wrapping up my work at one company and the next week starting the stress of a new office culture that is drastically different from where I came from. I happened to run into one couple last week in my neighborhood as I was on a walk crying to vent some stress. They asked if I was doing good, and I was honest, saying I'm a bit stressed with my new job. The neighbor said, in a kind way, "you are lucky to have found one." I felt immediately ashamed, for I had forgotten that John had lost his job 6 months ago and has had no luck. How could I forget?

My weeken also involved having some good quality conversations with Paul and some time enjoying being at home together. He did the American thing for 4th of July and had a good 'ol BBQ for us.

And I honored his country tradition (in apology for kicking his country out) and made tea and scones for breakfast.We planted our newly arrived California Coast Redwood "Big Red III." If you recall, Big Red I died on transit to NC and Big Red II died last fall in the early frost and freezing temps we had.
At the same time, we ordered a Dawn Redwood, my favorite conifer in the world. I was stopped in my tracks when I saw one for the first time in all its splendor at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens. Actually Dawn Redwoods, once thought to be extinct, have a very intersting history. They are such an old species, perhaps the oldest living conifer, that this species is actually in the fossil record. A small grove was discovered to be still in existence in China in the early 1900s I believe, and it has since been in cultivation. Don't quote me on this, though. They are unique to the conifer family because they are deciduous rather than evergreen, losing their "leaves" in the winter, and growing in new spring-green colored leaves in the spring.

We also finally Scotch Guarded the couches. We've had them for a year, but found that even a drop of water stains this fabric, so we have hardly sat on 'em, waiting for the opportune time to protect the fabric. It's a bear to get these out the door so I wore my respirator and did it inside.

We also finally buckled down and picked a fabric for the bedroom drapes. We had fabric picked out for about a year, but waited so long it's being discontinued and the price has soared up. So we picked a different one that we both liked (amazing) and bought it there and then (4th of July sale).

We had to put our heads together to see how we could get the 4 panels cut out of fabric and get the design to match up on all 4 panels. We got the last of the fabric on the bolt and weren't sure if it was going to be enough, so the store let us buy it with the allowance for us to bring it back (uncut) if we found we didn't have enough once we measured it out. In the end we had 4" left over! See top fabric, to the right of the blue tape.

Wow that was close!

Backyard Camping

2009-06-22T10:10:00.004-04:00

Well by Thursday Paul had a bad cold, I couldn't stand the smell of the polycoating and it was too hot and germy to sleep in one closed off bedroom even with the windows open, so we improvised. I went to the grocery store to pick up some NyQuil and food we could BBQ since we still had no access to the kitchen. For dishes stashed in the laundry room I had two bowls and spoons for cereal- no forks and knives. So I bought some bamboo "sporks", a few bamboo plates, and skewers for shish kebabs. The butcher was kind enough to cut up some steaks into shish kebab size since I didn't have my meat knives handy, and also offered to cut my veggies too! He asked that I keep him anonymous as he isn't allowed to cut veggies.

The potato salad and green beans with garlic and sesame sauce were from the deli and were fabulous

We had a delish dinner and decided to enjoy the whole night out by bringing out our Mosquitogazebo, air mattress and floor fan. Although it took us an hour or so for us two to figure out how to assemble the Mosquitogazebo with all the poles and pipes (we nearly gave up), it was perfect with the breeze of the fan, the sounds of the frogs and crickets and to watch the millions of fireflies blinking as we dozed off to sleep. The only foil to the plan was that in addition to the regular humidity, a fog bank floated in in the middle of the night, moistening the sheets and bedding. Paul woke up towards the tail end of the fog to say, "Oh look at the mist everywhere." We had to turn off the fan because we were suddenly cold and had to bring out a few more blankets.

After Thursday we stayed at Tracy's house while they coated the last coat over the entire downstairs floor. We couldn't go in the house at all until last night. The floors look great! Other than one small area that looked like a towel got dragged through the coating. Hopefully they don't have to sand it all down and start over with the last coat! Yikes.

Floors, Signs and Birds

2009-06-18T09:35:00.006-04:00

Being that I have had much nervousness and I might go so far as to say anxiety over the past year or so, I came to the hopeful idea that my problem might stem from lack of organization. Life is chaotic for me with the constant change in my work schedule and travel time, so I never feel I have a grasp on what time I really have available. The lack of fun time that's left after accomplishing the necessaries feels insufficient to do what I want to do, and I constantly feel frusterated and unsatisfied with my progress on to-dos and fun-having. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Of coarse! Probably everyone!

To combat my mind doing circles constantly trying to sort out how to fit everything in to the day or week, and wondering if I've forgotten something, I have talked to the most organized person I work with and the least organized person I work with. The most organized person suggested I organize my work and home life into whatever mode works best for me. Since I'm not organized at all, I don't know what works best! The least organized person I work with says she's being going through the same thing and now carries around a small notebook in her purse and she writes everything in it from meeting times, notes from meeting, hours worked on what projects and to-dos for at home.

I thought I could maybe make this work. An organizer is very categorized and doesn't leave enough room for creative note taking, plus it's bulky and I have to carry around a super-sized purse or backpack. My new little notebook is where I write my days out on a sheet or two and as things come up starting adding to-dos to different days such as buy birthday present, stop by the post-office, as well as fun things such as spin some yarn, work on painting Darla's sign... which is finished by the way!

It has worked very well because I will write things down as I think of them at work, the drive home or when I have lots of time to think: when I'm cooking. Now, I have my day planned out on paper (not in my head- this is key so I don't have to be thinking it all the time) before it gets there and if I start to feel nervous and wonder where my time is allocated, I just reassure myself by looking at my list. I feel very satisfied at the end of the day to see things crossed out, and anything left over, I just erase and add to the next available time.

Another thing that I'm hoping will help anxiety levels is I have found a home for Fairy. Her constant need for attention and screaming has made being home unpleasant so that I was not looking forward to weekends. Darla has two kids and a few dogs and a husband that loves birds. Fairy has gone to Darla's as a trial run to see how everyone adapts, including Paul. She gravitated towards her new home from day one and has been riding around on everyone's shoulders. If she calls out for attention, she's got 4 people there with someone being home almost all the time. She is quite catered to and Darla says she seems very content. Paul has had a hard time with parting with her, but he knows that this is probably best for her and best for me.

We shipped Fairy off to Darla's last week prior to the warranty folks coming in to repair our floors. Clementine went to her babysitters yesterday and Paul and I are living in the sewing room and laundry room until tomorrow night when we head to Tracy's for the weekend while the polycoat dries.

We have no access to upstairs because the floors are stained by the stairs, so we are sleeping downstairs in the office/sewing room.

The laundry room is by the office and we can get to both through the garage. So we have our clothes and a temporary kitchen set up for breakfast in the laundry closet.

And the laundry sink to do the dishes in..

I finished the sign for Darla last weekend in anticipation of the floor upheaval. I wanted to get it done beforehand so I could hand the sign off with Fairy. Darla got a two-for-one deal! The sign I painted for Darla's husband's landscaping business might open up some additional painting work I'm hoping. I have my contact details painted on the upper left hand corner of the sign that will be attached to the landscaping trailer cruising around town. I have my business license and am continuing with my embroidery work but look to bring in some painting work as well.

I hope you all are enjoying the summer! Congrats to my cousins Heidi and Tory for graduating and going on the the next stage in life!

Memorial Weekend

2009-06-14T08:32:00.005-04:00

The grand hoorah before my parents left to go back to California was to go to the mountains for the weekend. We stayed in Black Mountain, NC and then spent time between Black Mountain, Asheville and Hendersonville. Hendersonville was having a garden festival for the whole weekend and we had a blast walking around downtown checking out all the vendor boothes displaying garden goodies like birdhouses, chainsaw-carved bears (see below) and unusual carnivorous plants (see below).

Paul couldn't resist coming home with a bear carved by Mountain Dan

And, I myself, was drawn into the mysterious trumpet plants that lure insects in to trap and devour. Thanks to Mum for my beautiful birthday presents!

I don't know if everyone thought they were so beautiful by the end of the day, what with them having to sit on our table for lunch....and on Paul's lap for the ride to our B&B. The car ride was quite crowded with the bear, the plants, Dad's pruning shears and other trinkets.

Plus, we were sitting here in the car for awhile because I didn't print out directions to get to our B&B. And what's worse? I forgot the name of the place! Luckily I had my computer and we found a wireless zone in downtown Hendersonville, so we sat in the parking stall surfing my email for the confirmation email to then get an address to then search google maps.... Mom meanwhile checked out her map and dad has his GPS unit on his phone ready for action.

We finally found the place, Black Mountain Inn, and first order of business was to get the Triffids, as Paul dubbed them, comfy in the wash basin in our room. They need to be in water at all times because they are bog plants.

The next day we visited an abandoned junk yard and had fun searching around at the discarded antiques.

I found some lovely future planters...

...and mom and dad checked out the dishes and golf clubs, respectively.

We hit the shops of Black Mountain pretty hard.

Dad had found a fly shop in this small town, hard to believe, but sadly it was closed for the whole weekend! He came by to double check each time we walked by just in case they decided to open.

After a hard days work shopping around Black Mountain, we headed back to our frequented coffee shop, The Dripolator in downtown Black Mountain.

On monday we went to Asheville and had some fun looking in shops there, and then came home Monday night.

Triffids in place on the deck.

May Adventures

2009-05-20T20:58:00.005-04:00

Ah what a month- busy but fun! My parents are still with us, holding strong, despite being roped into helping me plant trees, vacuuming, making dinner cleaning floors and dishes. My dad has made shelves for nearly all our closets too.

In the midst of this, Heather came out for a surprise visit and I had no idea she was coming. She called mom's cell phone to chat supposedly and asked if she could speak to me. As we were talking I could hear her echoing from the front of the house and couldn't figure out why. Then as I turned around there she was in the kitchen!! We had a marvelous visit, scrapbooking of course, going for a walk, out to BBQ for lunch and more scrapbooking. She was with us from a Friday to a Monday the weekend before Mother's Day.

Craft day at the Teague's: Dad is fly tying, Mom, Heather and I are scrapbooking, and Paul in the background is modifying a Darth Vader helmet.

Sadly, Heather had to get back to work for a busy Mother's Day at the restaurant and that little thing called school. But we marched forth with our fun-having, and for Mother's Day we went to a house in Bishopville, SC where we had heard that the guy that lives there has a massive topiary garden in his 3 acres. He allows anyone to stop buy and visit and you can donate money in his mail box to the cause. Mom had heard our neighbors talking about it so we hunted it down and went. It was very cool indeed!

Pearl Fryer has been an inspiration to the neighborhood so that the adjoining neighbors on the street have taken up the craft as well.

Mixed into the month of activities, I had a few work projects, one being inundated with mosquitos that loved to hitch a ride on the ceiling of our car. Every time we opened the back door to load equipment in and out, a few hundred would fly in. We ended up spraying the inside of the car with OFF and running the A/C full blast because they really don't like that.

I also started painting a landscaping sign for a friend at work who is helping her husband get his business to take flight. I volunteered to paint the sign that will go on the back of their equipment trailer in exchange for me putting my website address on it. I am still determined to get my embroidery and painting business up and running.

Getting started in the photo above, and half way through in the photo below..

Plus, I found out I passed the PG exam so I am an official Professional Geologist for the state of North Carolina, and a week later found out we all got laid off (starting in another few weeks to a month). But, my whole office has gone for interviews with the new contracting company and I have another interview scheduled with a different company in a few weeks. So I am hopeful. It was a real blessing that I found out about my test results just in time to put it on my resume, and it was a miracle that I passed in the first place!! I have so much to give thanks for. The results came out about a month earlier than expected so the whole event feels like my own little miracle.

We have so many more pictures but most of them are on my mom's camera as she is the real photo documentarialist in the family (is that a word?). I will try and post more at a later date... I must get to bed for I have a 5:30am appointment with my colleagues and "the river" to collect surface water samples (in Virginia for the week). Good night to yall!

Visiting with Mom and Dad

2009-04-20T20:19:00.003-04:00

Wow it has been nearly a month since I had any news to post. Well, not really, it's just been one of those crazy months with so much to say that it's easier to avoid saying anything! In synopsis, I was in the field for 3 of the weeks, during which I found out I am on the brink of losing my job along with everyone else in my office, as our new contract will maintain 50% of the work we had for the previous 5 years. Our office got the bad end of the stick and most likely will be eliminated. We are all hoping that the new contracting company that gets the other 50% of the work comes in and hires us all. We are all waiting to hear what happens on the magical day of April 24th when the new contract gets signed.

Meanwhile, I've had a birthday and my parents have come out for a 5-6 week visit during which we celebrated my birthday and her 60th! Needless to say there has been lots of distraction and plenty of cheer in our house despite the looming liklihood of unemployment. My parents have a way of making any time a good time, and so it has been so good for the soul to have such comfort around.

We've spent much time in the yard (here they are supervising me turning the compost pile)

I took a day off of work on my mom's birthday and we did some countryside sightseeing and went out to lunch...

... and scrapbooked of course. My Dad is tying flies for fishing.

Plus, a real bonus is that my mom has made dinner for us everynight when we get home from work and my dad has been busy doing projects around the house such as building shelves in the closet (happy thought indeed!) hanging pictures, and supervising contractors that are still doing warranty repair work on the house. We really needed the help and it has been enjoyable and a big relief to get some of these things done.

This week I'm back in the field, and my parents and friends Liz and Ed, who came down from Vermont on Friday, are heading out to Charleston for the week together.

Scrapbooking All Night Long!

2009-03-25T21:00:00.003-04:00

Since finishing my test, I've been busy making sure to have lots of fun and enjoy my weekends more to eliminate some stress and get rid of my heart palpitations that my dr. says is stress-related. The cure: exercise, exercise, excersize, have some fun and get away from the news.

So, as part of my medicine, I invited two girls from work to come over on Friday to scrapbook and have a barbeque-- Paul was included in the barbeque but opted to watch movies while we worked on our albums.

Now, I'm not known for my late hours, but if I am busy working on a fun project, I can do ok.

But even I was surprised that we made it all the way to 4:00 am! Everyone crashed out for a few hours' nap and headed out by 8:00 to their various activities.

I had a dry stone walling class at 8:30 at a local Presbyterian church cemetery. This was really fun and I found out about it when I met the Stone Man at the garden show I went to a few weeks ago. He said to come on by to help out on this volunteer project of restoring the 300 year old church wall that borders the back property line behind the cemetery. It was a really really fun event and we ended up building a section of the wall that was about 30 feet by 4 feet high! All without mortar-- looked straight out of Scotland.

After the wall experience finished at 2:30, I went back home and Paul and I went for a walk, to Starbucks for a hot chocolate and then we had barbecued hamburgers and watched movies until 10:30. I did all this without a nap and I impressed myself immensely!

This week I'm dragging a bit at work, but since I'm just monitoring the safety of several workers on a site, it's not terribly taxing.

Have a good week!

The Garden Show experience

2009-03-10T18:21:00.004-04:00

What a show this was! The Southern Spring Home and Garden Show in Charlotte was fantastic! This was the 49th annual event and I thought every bit worth the time to go. I sat in on a talk about organic gardening, and was impressed by the amount of booths set up that were focused on environmental decorating or water conservation tools and green architects... it was really neat to see environmental consciousness a bigger presence in the market.

The show was completely indoors, which was a surprise, but the landscaping competitors did a phenomenal job of making the surroundings look real. Of coarse each landscaper was there to pass out business cards -- it was really clever how it all worked.

In the landscaping area shown in the pictures above, there were intermingled home settings where interior designers showed off their skills in home decor. This room was designed out of environmentally friendly materials -- non VOC paint and fabrics, etc. I loved this room for its cozy feel.

Then in another part of the center, there were booths for folks to sell their wares. What is a garden show without the Gourd Lady? She made hand painted gourd decor and with enthusiasm! She was a real crowd pleaser.

I ended up coming home with some plants for the garden and then Darth Orchi II pictured here in his ominous glory amongst the tulips. I had bought Darth Orchi I when we were still living in California. He was a beautiful orchid, I thought, because of his originality. Paul thought he looked downright scary sitting on a shelf in the bedroom and thought he resembled Darth Vader. Of coarse Paul would think that since he is on a one-track mindset of Star Wars. But anyway, Darth Orchi caught some mysterious orchid disease after a year or so and I found out his roots were shot. So I did a emergency surgery, cut off the dead roots, dipped the base in rooting hormone, placed him in moist soil with an upside-down vase over the top of him to keep in the humidity. Paul immediately drew the similarities between the real Darth with his supplied air in the dome-like helmet to Darth Orchi and his dome-like oxygen chamber. So the name was truly a good fit. Sadly, Darth Orchi didn't make it and we missed him bad. I never saw another one like him until this show and so I couldn't pass up Darth Orchi II when I saw him sitting amongst the orchids at the orchid booth. Paul was thrilled and gave him a special place on his bathroom counter.

Geology Test Done

2009-03-07T09:31:00.003-05:00

It is done at last! That's the good news. After weeks of studying (which should have been months) I can have my life back and hopefully start having some fun again. The bad news is that the test was way harder than I had anticipated, which is hard to believe! It was a gruelling 8 hours of 230 questions/problems to solve. I knew about 1 out of 10 questions, narrowed it down to two of 4 choices in about 5 out of 10 questions and the other 4 out of 10 questions I didn't even know what they were talking about! It's kinda funny really, to come to the realization of how little of geology, and the practice of it in the workplace, that I actually know. Even though I read the study manual from front to back, memorized terms, and practiced the word problems, I couldn't have studied that material for another 3 months and feel like I would have done much better because there was so much on the test that I don't think I've ever learned or even know where to look to find the subject matter. So bizarre considering I did well in school.

But it's not the end of the world and there's definitely more important things in life than my career (and this isn't a career-buster anyway). I couldn't sleep last night except for 3-4 hours because I was wide awake thinking of what I could have done better, will I attempt this again in 6 months and fork out the money or should I just go on and say this is one of those things to lay at rest and close the chapter. After all, I do want to continue working on getting my side embroidery business up and running and hopefully have children at some point before I'm too old!

I'm heading out soon to go to the Southern Spring Home and Garden Show with some friends. Have a good weekend!

Potato Leek Soup

2009-02-23T21:42:00.004-05:00

Ah I fell in love with this soup all over again this weekend. It's been awhile since I made it and now that I found a new sausage that makes everything taste good, this is a winter day recipe that's hard to beat.

1 package of Gautney 40% lower fat sausage meat without the casings
3-4 leeks sliced without the green tops (first time I made this I didn't know you weren't supposed to use the dark green tops of leeks)
4 potatoes, thickly chopped
1 onion chopped
1/2 tsp. rubbed sage
1/4 tsp. ground thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1 quart of chicken stock
a few cups of milk to make the soup creamy
2-3 Tbs. flour

Brown the sausage in a frying pan and drain the fat. Add to the ol' Crock-pot with all the rest of the ingredients except the milk and flour. Cook for abut5-6 hours on low or until the potatoes are tender. Turn the Crock Pot to high. In a small bowl combine the flour with a few Tbs. of the soup liquid, adding a Tbs. at a time until the mixture forms a paste. Then add to the rest of the soup, blending until smooth. Add the milk and heat until ready to serve.

I used this recipe, the promise of some bread and butter pudding and a hot bath with story time to lure Paul to go on a run with me on Sunday afternoon. It worked, and he was amazing- completing a half hour of running with me with hardly a complaint once I got him out the door. And it was freezing outside. I carried out my promises too, but forgot to make the bread and butter pudding as we got saddled into helping a neighbor bring her treadmill in from the garage.

Sunday was a perfect day as I took the day off after church from studying (back to getting ready for the Professional Geologist exam on March 6th), had some good quality time with Paul and it was really relaxing. Today I'm back into Hendersonville for some groundwater sampling and although the work is tough, it's good to see the familiar faces.

Paul's Birthday Weekend (and Valentines)

2009-02-15T20:36:00.003-05:00

What a fun weekend we had! I decided to surprise Paul and plan something for him that didn't involve getting up early, doing a long drive or staying out all day. He likes to chill out on weekends since the workdays are so long, and so I thought the best thing to do is head into Charlotte, the city we are so close to but have hardly ever been to (downtown that is). Actually, Charlotte calls their downtown "Uptown." We left at the leisurely hour of 1:00 when we started to get hungry enough for lunch. To add to the adventure, I drove us to the train station to ride the Lynx to the city center. It was a lot of fun, relaxing, no traffic involved and no parking meters to worry about.

We walked around on the main center of town and then went to Ri-Ra's for lunch, a great little Irish Pub that has the traditional British cuisine and decor. We then headed to the Levine Museum where they had the opening day of an exhibit about how the south has changed over the years, with a focus on Charlotte. This was very cool!

On the way back to the train station on 7th st, we found a grocery store that had a coffee bar and we each got a hot chocolate.

That was it for us on Saturday. We got back and Paul put in "The Incredible Hulk" and I promptly fell asleep on the couch while he watched the movie. I've had a cold this week so I keep falling asleep!

Today we slept in (ahhhh) and then had a full bacon and egg breakfast. I made some chicken salad and a fruit salsa with cinnamon tortilla chips and brought an assortment of cheeses and bread and drinks and we headed down to the Andrew Jackson State Park in SC around 2:30. We were there on Memorial weekend too, and hardly anyone there both times.

Paul loved his surprise picnic and when we were done, he shared a few pieces of bread with the locals.
Some were waiting very stoically, and proud and didn't seem to want to ask for handouts.

And others were a little more impatient, coming right up on the blanket behind us.

This little guy was not shy at all and wasn't afraid to ask for food! I thought he was going to bite, but he just kept putting his bill near our shoulders - couldn't get any closer - until we gave him a piece. When he was done he kept making chewing sounds as if to say, "come on, where's my next slice? I'm tired of eating grass!"

A beautiful day

2009-02-01T17:44:00.003-05:00

It has been so cold this winter that we've hardly been outside unless necessary, and I got more than my fill in January with 3 weeks of field work in the coldest weeks in Charlotte in 4 years. When I stepped out of church this afternoon it was at least 20 degrees warmer out than when I went in (or so it seemed). So Paul and I spent the afternoon outside washing the salt off the cars(from the snow a few weeks ago), we hosed down bird cages and cleaned the garage a little. I still had a pile of vines in the backyard that I had cut down out of the trees in December that still needed to be put in the trash. It was such a nice day that the chores didn't feel like chores. Even the birds enjoyed being outside without complaint.

I don't know if I mentioned it, but we started a compost pile about a month ago and it seems to not be doing much since all our kitchen vegetable scraps are still as good as new when I go to turn the pile. Nothing is decomposing and I guess it's because the weather has essentially been a freezer, preserving everything till the spring! I am excited to see some progress and so looking forward to more warm days like today.

The funny thing about the compost pile is that Mrs. Neighbor across the way has spotted it hiding inconspicuously in the "back 40" as I call it. She asked me, "What is that big thing back there?" I explained our new composting mission and she wasn't too impressed. Her husband calls us "the environmental neighbors." I had anticipated that the compost pile might not be a favorite, so I planned ahead and used the tidiest materials to build it so that it doesn't stand out too much and I kept with the homeowner's association code which states that structures under 3' high do not need prior approval by the association. So I opted to keep it to 2'11" so as to escape hassel.

Snow Today!

2009-01-20T20:04:00.004-05:00

Charlotte was all aflutter yesterday with the news of impending snow throughout the night. My office was one of those threatening not to open if snow stuck by this morning (oh darn). But poor Paul and company had no such luck.

Paul and I woke up several times last night due to snoring, restlessness, snow anticipation, bathroom breaks and cold feet. I think either one or the other of us was up every hour for something. Each time I got up I checked out the window to see how much snow was on the ground and it did begin to pile up an inch or so as the wee hours of the night began to fade. This meant not going out to do field work at the crack of dawn because we all decided to wait till mid-morning for some of the roads to loosen up. In the end, the crew couldn't make it down from Greensboro and with my office shut down, I could either work from home or take the day off (I chose the latter as I will be making up the hours later this week).

I watched Paul leave the driveway, very nervous. Thankfully he made it there and back, but he did have a scare from some ice on the country roads around our house. After he left, I ran outside to take some pictures.

Our house

Our street

Backyard neighbors' houses

The part of our backyard that is the North/South Carolina border. The trees in the distance are in North Carolina!

This is not a lot of snow compared to what other places in the country are experiencing but it seems to cause a lot of upheaval in Charlotte as the city is not equipped for it. All the schools shut down in our area, and so it made for a nice long holiday for the kids, with the Martin Luther King holiday being yesterday.

Doing a bit Better

2009-01-18T17:09:00.002-05:00

Last weekend Paul and I went over to a friend of mine from work to hang out and be social. We haven't done much of this and we decided maybe it would be a good thing to help me come out of the doldrums. I brought all my scrapbooking stuff and Paul brought some man movies (action) and some Mexican food to contribute to the potluck. Tracy from work also came over with her scrapbooking stuff and Mexican food. The men watched movies and us ladies worked on our albums and shared supplies, stories and news. We had a fiesta style dinner and came home feeling re-energized and cheered. Plus, I'm now re-motivated to get my scrapbook out and continue forth!! I am still working on our wedding from 4 years ago!

A Topic I've Been Avoiding

2009-01-09T17:06:00.002-05:00

I like writing about fun things, cheerful things and funny insignificant happenings. I wonder why, but have no clear concise reason other than I guess it makes me feel that all is right and happy, and the bad ugly things will go away if I can just turn my back on them. The reality is always different, we all know, but why not watch a comedy and laugh some more and turn away briefly from the big bad and scary?

Truthfully, I along with most Americans and people all over the world, are very worried about the economy, our jobs and what kind of world is ours turning into. Is there any validity behind our hopes for a turnaround for 2009, hopes for keeping our jobs and our homes? As I'm seeing things crumble around me, and listening to talk on the radio of this plan and that plan and a loss of over 500,000 American jobs just in the month of December, I am so terribly frightened.

Today I've been told that we are not doing overtime anymore, so as to distribute work among different offices that have no work. We have suspended all field work and travel for the first quarter to cut costs and everyone in our office is on edge.

Tonight our sister office down the street has invited us to join them in their belated holiday festivities. They are not in such a tight situation because they have multiple clients whereas we just have one, and one that is tightening its purse. None of us know anyone in this other office but everyone in our office but 2 are attending to "network" and meet some new people in hopes of not only making some new friends but hopefully find some work if available. I'm not wearing an interview suit, but close to it! ;-)

This sums up why I haven't been writing as much the last few months... I've been scared and I'm having a hard time seeing the flowers through the fog.

Ham Loaf

2009-01-04T16:04:00.003-05:00

My mom would be gasping in shock to see that I am posting a meat loaf recipe (I am not a fan of meat loaf), but I have had ham loaf once a long time ago and I liked it. So, back to my good ol' 1966 New York Times Cookbook for the next idea of what to do with ham.

Ham Loaf

1 pound of ground ham (in food processor)
1/2 pound of ground pork (I used 40% less fat pork sausage meat, not in the casings)
1/2 cup of milk
1 egg
1 tsp. rubbed sage
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Mix meats together. In a separate bowl beat egg and milk and sage together and add meats and bread crumbs mixing until uniform. Form into a loaf and bake for 45 minutes (or I did it in the crock pot, for 5-6 hours to keep it moist). Top with Orange Glaze and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, until nice and golden, basting frequently.

Orange Glaze

1.5 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup orange juice
1 Tbs. orange zest

Mix ingredients together.

There was so much extra glaze that I used it on the sweet potatoes I was serving- yum! I served the ham loaf and sweet potatoes with orange slices from the one used for zesting, a small side salad tossed in honey mustard and cooked cabbage with butter. It was nice to have something so different and very, very delicious. The orange glaze was what did it.

We only have a few slices of ham left, and the bone I'm using in the crock pot today to make split pea soup!

Fairy: A Happy Feathered Friend

2009-01-02T08:00:00.003-05:00

Unbelievably, after 8 months, we think we've found out what has been causing our little "Fairy Munchkin" to be so noisy and needy.

On New Year's Eve, I had just finished filling out a questionnaire for Phoenix Landing, a non-profit organization that re-homes birds. Having my stress level on overdrive for 8 months and being reduced to tears over the constant wear on my nerves from the little bird, we finally decided that the only solution was to find her a home with a family that was home more. We figured it was our long work hours that must have gotten to her. As the vet and behaviorist suggested, we tried regular bath time, teaching her new tricks, tried to develop a consistent routine and bedtime, had her with me if I went into a different room to sew, etc. None of that worked. I prayed for patience, prayed for bird's change in perspective and finally prayed to understand what she was trying to communicate.

So on New Year's Eve, after a long 5 days off with her around Christmas time, I began to fill out the questionnaire. Not ready to send, but just so it was ready. Then, getting a bit of inspiration, I asked Paul, "What do you think about trying to move her to a different spot?" We had done this already, but maybe she didn't like being near a window. Paul, eager to try anything to keep his bird from going up for adoption, he jumped up and helped me move her cage to a wall furthest from the window. This was halfway through the day, and by golly we didn't hear a peep out of her for the rest of the day! We continued with the routines of bedtime and playtime, but she was actually content for the first time.

Thinking it was a fluke, we were shocked when we had the most peaceful day at home yesterday that we have had since May when she started her thing. She played with toys, sat on different perches and watched what was going on, but not with the anxious body language, the call to be held, etc. She didn't scream if we left the room. She was a relaxed bird! I think, and I'm hesitant to assume this is the solution, but I think that something must have happened in the window that has scared her (she used to love windows). We have noticed lots of hawks around, and maybe one tried to fly into the window at her in May. I don't know, but she seems so much happier. After all that time, poor bird must have been trying to say she was scared. I am so thankful, so, so thankful that we might be on a path towards peace in our home, a much happier bird, and a much happier me!

Fairy content on her "boing" toy.

Ham, Ham and more Ham

2008-12-30T09:01:00.004-05:00

You may be in the same blessed predicament as us to have more ham than you can think of what to do with after Christmas. Paul came home with a Honey Baked ham last Tuesday - a gift from his company, and we have to finish it in a week (or so the instructions say) before it spoils. I love Honey Baked ham, but because ham is so salty, I get tired after a few days of ham with green beans, ham with carrots, ham with broccoli, and on and on.

The solution for me was to go to my favorite book of all cookbooks, one that I found years ago at a used bookstore: The New York Times Menu Cookbook, published in 1966. The fun thing is that this huge book of recipes was written pre-carbs and fat days so the recipes are based purely on taste rather than health - a bad thing most of the time, but occasionally it must be done! It also has a fantastic index. I looked up "ham" and came up with dozens of recipes including ham. This is what I chose, and it was a wonderfully delicious choice that tasted like a cross between a creamy Italian pasta primavera dish and a vegetable medley/pot pie (don't let the simple, innocent name deceive you):

Ham and Vegetable Casserole

4 Tbs. of butter
1 small chopped onion
1.5 Tbs. flour
1 cup milk
1 cup of diced potatoes
1 cup of diced carrots
1 cup of chopped green beans
2 cups of diced cooked ham
1 cup of fresh bread crumbs (put a few slices in a food processor or vitamix and you have crumbs)
Few slices of bacon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
1. I chopped all veggies (onions separately) in a food processor to cut down on time.
2. Melt butter in saucepan and add onion, cooking until transparent.
3. Bring milk to a boil.
4. Meanwhile blend flour in with onions and start the bacon cooking in a frying pan (you will need the drippings so don't microwave).
5. bring some water to a boil and cook the chopped veggies for only a few minutes ~2-3.
6. Add the boiled milk slowly in with the onions/flour/butter mixture, mixing until it thickens.
7. Add cooked veggies and season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Place mixture into a 1.5 quart casserole dish.
9. Dice up the cooked bacon and sprinkle on top.
10. Add bread crumbs to the bacon drippings and sprinkle on top of everything.
11. Bake the casserole for thirty minutes or until mixture is hot and the bread crumbs are brown.

Note: this is supposed to serve 6 but really in today's serving sizes, especially if you are serving no side dishes, serves 3 to 4. Even that looks like a small amount, but it is surprisingly filling - really packs a punch. We had enough for the two of us to have dinner last night and leftovers for lunch.