Kitchen Panorama, Coffee Tables, and Holidays

People who know me know that I'm a nerd. While in some settings I try to hide it, I never actually succeed for long. But sometimes my nerd spills over and manifests in funny ways. This week that was one of those times, where I felt like I had all these thoughts about how I want our new house to look but they were all scattered. So I decided to draw what I want my kitchen to look like.

So I got out my daughter's drawing paper and a pencil, and started remembering the perspective rules my art teacher taught me in 6th grade. It's fairly large; I didn't crop the laptop out of this picture on purpose so you could see that it's about 14 inches tall and 4 feet wide (I'm estimating; I didn't measure). 

I haven't inked it all yet, here is the hearth. I haven't inked it because I'm not perfectly satisfied with it. Maybe a mantel? We want a wood stove, and you can see our "Command Center" in the background. It was a good exercise for this wall especially, because we realized we could cut into the bottom of our pantry for the firewood storage and we could cut into the middle very slightly for a cubby for phone charging, mail sorting, etc. Behind that door is a bathroom. The tiles on the bottom sides of the hearth are dragons from Earth Song tiles (found toward the bottom of the page at this link) and the hearth is brick. 

This is the kitchen island, with a door to the outside (deck?) on the back kitchen wall. We're thinking ivory subway tile for a backsplash, lighter wood cupboards, and just laminate countertop. I don't mind laminate and have always had it. So I just don't see a good reason at this point to spring for quartz or granite. If you've been in our current kitchen, you will think this looks a lot like it!

For a backsplash, I like Earth Song Tile's tree of life tile (found toward the middle of this page). We can pick whatever glaze we want, and we're still debating that. I just really want a kitchen that in 10 years someone doesn't walk into and say, "Oh, that kitchen is so 2014". It seems like the current trend is white cabinets, black granite countertops, vertical multi-tone grays narrow glass tile backsplashes, and stainless steel appliances. Although the stainless appliances have been around for a while. 

  I know they are going to look at me like I am out of my mind, but I fully intend to walk into a kitchen cabinet store, unroll my drawing, and say, "I want THIS."

In less obsessive compulsive news, we had some holidays recently. My stepdad helped us pick out the right cedar tree on Thanksgiving day, and I have to say this was the nicest tree we've had. Maybe because Ryan didn't just wander out there on his own and grab the first tree he saw. :-)

As a case in point and a study in contrast, here is our 2010 tree:

Even now I am laughing at how completely ridiculous that tree is. 

Also as part of the holidays, we found and refinished some coffee tables for my sister-in-law. Here they are before (fresh from Goodwill!)...:

...and after at her house. We distressed them a bit, resealed the wood with polyurethane, and made the top center chalkboard paint (she has two girls age 4 and 2). They are quite sturdy and I like how they turned out. 

Then we headed to visit my dad for Christmas and to go to Lake Tahoe to see my brother get married. I don't have official wedding pics yet, but this is (apparently) the one picture I took of H as a flower girl. She did a great job and I didn't take many pictures because the photographer seemed to be taking many. 

Both kids were fairly enamored with the whole plane thing, here Z is pointing at our plane. Yes, his onesie says "Daddy's co-pilot" because he already owned that onesie and I simply could not resist. 

H checked out our plane, although was also interested in the other young passengers sitting next to her.

Z is so far a typical Boy, loving trucks and electronics. Here he is at my dad's (who's house is not so very toddler proof although it's not bad) holding a Playstation 3 controller and fiddling with the myriad of black electronic boxes available under the TV. It was Z's bliss.

H continues to like to be outside, even when weather is dismal. Here she is with our first lamb of the season (who is also our first bottle lamb. Stupid ewe. She lost her baby and Ryan didn't find it until a half hour later, when she had a second one and decided the first one wasn't hers. Five days later she is still the only ewe to lamb and we have a bottle lamb). The are both bouncing up and down, with H imitating the lamb. 

Today we had someone looking at our house for a second time (hurray!) but that happened during the kids' nap time. So for what we think is the first time ever, H fell asleep on the couch. She was watching The Incredibles and we came into the living room to see her all curled up. 

Good night!

Chores & Grafting

Ryan went out of town last weekend on a much-needed break, so that meant I covered farm chores for him. Contrary to popular belief, I don't usually do much with farm chores. Just when necessary. Ryan is Mr. Farm Chores. 

I realized we don't usually blog about the day-to-day, so here is "How to do farm chores," Janice style:

1. Get oats from the shop. A staple bucket is about the right size and handy. Keep an eye out for the skunk, he lives there and is currently too smart to be caught. But he stays on the other side of the building...

2. Get a sled of hay. If you're lucky and you're just covering one night, the hay fairy already got you a sled. If you're unlucky, pull apart a big round bale or a small square bale until you have a sled of hay. 

3. Offer the oats to the sheep. This is a distraction. They will try to knock you over to get to the oats. Be strong! Stand firm! This is the sheep version of the "feeder rage" we see in broiler chickens.

4. Pour the oats into an old chicken feeder. Deploy distraction!

5. Go get sled full of hay and dump it into the feeder. The feeder is a farrowing crate turned upside down, and it works really well. Lamb babies are already getting big!

6. Watch lambs eat. This year was much better than last year for lambs, we have around 20 and our mortality rate was closer to 10% instead of last year's 50%+. I'm not sure what happened last year, but either way this year was better. 

7. Roll eyes at the building chicken. All other chickens were moved to the new building, but this one stayed behind. She cleans up oats the sheep leave behind and generally has decided she doesn't want to leave. She doesn't like change. 

8. Get water for the sheep. Carry it back, cursing its weight, and try not to spill it on yourself. 

9. Fail.

10. Go up to the brooder and get the laying hen chicks some feed. Unfortunately, none came out so that you could coo at their cuteness. Laying hens stay cute MUCH longer than broilers. This year we have Black Australorps. We've shown this brooder hood design before, but I have to say it is AWESOME! We are not checking the brooder temperature every couple hours with this thing, they can regulate themselves. 

11. Close the door for the adult laying hens. 

12. Check on the adult laying hens. This is our new building in service, and it's been quite nice. Check that they have water and food, since we now collect eggs in the morning. 

13. Hello gals! We mostly have buff orpingtons right now, with some red stars and other miscellany mixed in. 

And then chores are done! Ryan worked very hard to make it easy for me; the cows have a hay bale in a bale ring and access to a waterer that is hooked to the well and manages itself. They'll be grazing soon, but spring has been late this year so they are still eating hay. 

Ryan also took a grafting class recently, which has been a new experiment. 

We have a couple of grafted apple trees hanging out in the bathroom where they can get light, but not direct light. That pretty, healthy growth you see on the one in the foreground? That's the root stock growing. Sigh. The graft does appear to be taking as well, though. Have you noticed I can't seem to take a picture of the interior of our house without a kid toy showing up somewhere? I have. 

I have been productive quilting-wise, but it is currently all for gifts that have yet to be given and so I can't share yet! I will share after I give the gifts.

As for the kidlets, little Z is growing well and as he should. In this picture, he has recently discovered the joy that is feet. I just LOVE the moment when babies find their feet; H did this too. It is the world's greatest toy! And it's right there, at the end of my leg! Whoa!!
Z can now reliably roll over front to back and back to front, his next step is crawling and he is determined to be mobile as soon as he can manage it.

H is still doing really well as a big sister, although she's trying to find ways to play with her little brother. Here, she is adorning him with post-it notes while he ignores her. She is almost three, and is full of all the drama and discovery that comes with being a three-year-old girl. 

And so, life goes on!

Lambs, Brown Green Baby Quilt, & Easter egg hunt

It appears I am on a once-a-month blogging schedule, but I guess that might just be the way it is right now! I like every two weeks when I can do it, but life's a little busy for that.

We have our first lambs of the season, I think the first was born on Wednesday. They are, as lambs always are, very sweet.

We have two single lambs out of two first-time mothers, which is the way it should be. First time mothers who twin frequently lose one or both, and so far we would rather have healthy singles. Yes, that is a Tidy Cats bucket in the background. A friend and customer of ours generously donated a bunch of them, and we use them quite a bit for various things (in this case, water for this lamb and ewe). Buckets wear out fast around here, and are kind of stupid expensive considering it is just a BUCKET!

I also had a friend of ours have a baby in the last week or so, and I decided he needed a quilt of his own. So I whipped up a quick stash-busting Anita's Arrowhead for him; many of these fabrics I am thrilled to finally give a home to. My stash is small, but it's still too full of fabrics that aren't actually big enough to do much with. I secretly dream of working toward a stash made up of decent quality fabrics with a balanced color scale.I also find that I reach for my tone-on-tone colors the most, like Moda Marbles and other blenders. I think that a little bit of print goes a long way, and I like the look of more pure colors best. Anyway, here's the quilt I made!

I've also started putting blessings on the labels of my baby quilts, and I really like what it adds. This one says, "May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, the foresight to know where you are going, and the insight to know when you have gone to far." 
And yes, those are my toes in the bottom of this picture. I should have stopped long enough to crop it, but I didn't. Lazy me.

Since today is the Saturday before Palm Sunday, Pella had its Easter Egg Hunt for kids. Now, not to be a fuddy-duddy, but in my day they still bothered to put candy into plastic eggs for the kids. Each one was a discovery: "Did I get good candy, or is this one a tootsie roll?" Alas, now they just scatter the candy on the ground and let the kids go at it when they say "go!" I guess this way is a lot less effort, and as a parent I don't have to figure out what to do with all the plastic eggs or feel bad throwing them away.

H enjoyed it anyway, and thought the whole process was pretty neat. And yes, I was That Mom. You know, the mom who doesn't have a cute Easter basket that's just the right size for gathering candy? The mom who totally spaced the whole concept that an Easter basket might be needed for this activity and emptied a grocery bag that happened to also be in the truck to serve as a makeshift basket? Yeah. That was me. Good thing she's 2 and won't realize that I was That Mom this year. I'll try to do better next year!

Z is growing well, and I snapped this picture this morning of a onesie my sister-in-law made for him

It has a bunch of stats for a Level 1 Human, and it's very Geek Chic. He's growing well, though has a cough (we all do, I'm on week number six of this thing) and is still a very calm baby. In this picture he just had his diaper changed, which is his absolute FAVORITE activity in the whole world. This kid just loves his diaper changes.

On a last note, this is my plea to the universe to decide it is spring already here in the Midwest. As I type this on the 23rd of March, it is the warmest it will get today at 37 degrees F, cloudy, gray, and nothing at all is green. Please spring, we need you!! Last year we know you were too early, but now you are too late!

Little Power Outage & Tagging Lambs

I came home from work last Monday night to no power in our house. Sigh. I called the neighbors, but they had power. So I called the power company. While I waited for the power company technicians to come out, I stared at Hazel over the kerosene lamp we lit on the kitchen counter.
Side note: If you move to the country, buy kerosene lamps for this occasion! There is a reason they are so effective and widely used. They actually give off a bit of heat and a surprising amount of light! Flashlights are fine, but somehow the lamp is actually friendlier. 
Anyway, as we sat there and she colored with markers, I told myself, "If pioneer women could make dinner without electricity, why the heck can't I?" Duh. So I lit my gas stove with the matches I had literally purchased at the grocery store 2 hours before (how is that for irony?) and made egg rolls by lamplight.

Hazel took it all fairly well, although understandably was a little jumpy. 

Here is what my kitchen looked like when I turned the flash off on my camera:

We got the power back on at 8 pm, it turns out the transformer on our street they replaced a month ago threw the neutral connector. So it was sending surges of power through our lines and it blew every surge protector in the house (boy did they do their job!!). It also blew our furnace until it could be fixed the next day, our garage door opener, my iron, and my clock radio. Ryan's clock radio was just fine, go figure. But all is well again, and the power company will help pay for the stuff that was destroyed. It's just stuff, after all!


On farm-related subjects, we tagged lambs this weekend. I don't have any pictures of this process because both of us had our hands full of wriggling lambs!

After 3 years of raising sheep, we finally decided we should be a "real farm" and ear tag our lambs. And keep records! It's amazing! And pretty sad it took us this long, but this is a perfect example of the sort of thing that native farm kids would just do and know how to do. Instead, this farm has us! So it took two of us about two hours to tag about a dozen lambs. We'll get better at it in the future!

Lambing Season and Kindle Cover

Tonight is the coldest night of the year so far (and probably will be the coldest), so of course we have new lambs. We're up to a few now (6? 8? I'm not sure) and this year we've had better luck with female lambs. Of course, all of the girls are still black while the boys get decent coloring. 

This is a little ram lamb born a couple of weeks ago, with some girls around him. I think the black ewe gene must be a sex-linked trait that is carried by our black ram, Hades. 

So here is our newest mother ewe and her twins, who were fairly weak and small. Ryan bottle-fed them a little as a supplement because it's so cold out and so they would be strong enough to nurse on their own.

Newborn lambs are cute, but they're much cuter a week or two old when they're running around and messing with the chickens in the building.

It's a little hard to see in this fuzzy, cropped, dark (I lightened it, I swear!) picture; but this lamb is nose-to-nose with one of the laying hens. I hadn't ever seen that before, but three of the lambs were chasing the chickens around while the chickens got all flustered and fled to higher ground. It was hilarious! Lambs and puppies have more in common than I would think. 

Hazel looked on with fascination and delight while Ryan fed the lambs. She's extremely empathetic toward our sheep, and gets really really upset when Ryan has to move a ewe around (like by shoving her or picking her up to get her out of his way to feed lambs). Even though he's not hurting the ewe and she's not making any noise, Hazel freaks out every time he manhandles one. It's been that way since even since 6-month-old Hazel was in a baby carrier on my back for doing chores and Ryan was loading sheep into the truck for processing. Born farm girl, that one.


My latest sewing/craft project was something I saw on Pinterest (Ryan calls Pinterest "Lady Crack"). A gal made a cover for her Kindle out of a book. Love it! So, of course, I had to have one.

This book is one of the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson books (Book 3 to be precise), and it fits a Kindle perfectly. I read these as a teenager, and this book suffered some water damage to the pages a couple of years ago when we had a leak in our sunroom roof. So no, I did not destroy a perfectly lovely book. I admit, that would break my heart a little bit. But back to my project! 

I made it with a combination of sewing and hot glue, using some scrap fabric I had lying around. It's really pink, but I like it. This pink fabric was what I had on hand that matched the bright pink and orange plaid of the book cover. 

I gave my cover a pocket, but I'm not sure why. I can only put flat things in there and I couldn't make it big enough for the Kindle, but I felt like it belongs. 
My truly favorite addition to this cover comes from Ryan's stash of stuff for his hobbies. He had some rare earth magnets that I employed to keep my cover closed.

And yes, I did do my homework; the magnets won't hurt the Kindle. Amazon uses magnets to keep their cover closed too. I maintain the faint hope that the cover will slow my toddler down the tiniest bit as she absconds with my Kindle hollering, "Mine!!!"

Weaning

So Ryan has been trying to sort sheep in our new animal handling system. See below.

However, as he himself said in reaction to this picture, "What you can't see here is the swearing." 

He's not kidding.

Luckily my daughter can't hear him either.

 But she likes to watch him.

She actually watched him mow the lawn for 45 minutes without moving. Pretty good for a year-old child. 
But back to my story. 


Ryan got the sheep sorted out (mostly) and into different areas of the farm (also mostly). In the "keep" herd were a couple of lambs who are big enough to be weaned, but their mamas haven't forced the issue yet. We usually let them make that decision, but not today.
So in his infinite wisdom, Ryan put the "keep" herd next to our house.
Right next to our house.
As in, one wall of the fence is practically the wall to our house.

Did I mention it was super hot out last night so I had the windows open? Those crazy lambs cried all night long.


Word to the wise: freshly weaned lambs do not belong 10 feet from the open window of a house on a summer night.