It’s Monday. It’s raining. And, both are just fine with me.
The rain is nourishing the gardens. The onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and potatoes are coming along nicely and the recently planted watermelon, okra, turnips, beets and corn will all love this rain!
Also coming up much quicker than the crops are weeds. Lots and lots of weeds! One could hoe 24/7 and still not keep up with the weeds. We are doing our best, though, to not get overrun with them this year. We’ll see how that goes!
My flowers are also loving this rain…
It’s been a nice, gentle rain which is perfect for newly planted seeds.
It’s also good for all my potted plants.
Prior to this rainy Monday, I spent several hours over the weekend re-locating my ‘office’. Again! Originally, it was in my sewing and craft room but there are no windows in there and I found myself lacking any desire to get in there to do any blog writing or computer work in general. So, I moved my ‘office’ (which consists of a laptop, printer, computer software, paper & card stuffs, and files and stuff for Young Living) into one of the guest rooms. Ah, windows! I suddenly found myself a bit more motivated! But, it still wasn’t the perfect location. When we do have guests, I am hesitant to do any blogging or computer work as I feel like I am intruding on our guests space. And, I felt ostracized from the goings-on downstairs. I don’t know if that makes sense or not but it was just how I felt.
So, I decided to move my ‘office’ downstairs.
The only somewhat suitable spot was in the dining room.
My overly-large roll-top desk was already in there so I decided that was where my ‘office’ would be. But first, I had to tackle the mounds of paperwork that covered the top of the desk so that I could put my laptop on it and yesterday morning was the day I felt as if I could conquer it. Ha! Please tell me I’m not the only one that lets paperwork get out of control!!! I love to be organized but if anything is going to whip me in the organizing department it will be paperwork. sigh.
Anyway, after moving the desk to anther wall so that I could look out the window while I worked I set about sorting, filing and tossing and eventually I saw the top of my desk. Yay! So, I started bringing stuff down from upstairs and getting it set up.
It still needs a little bit of tweaking here and there. I will finalize the space as I figure out what works and what doesn’t. But, for now, I’m happy to be downstairs writing this here blog post, happy to be out of the guest room and happy to be able to see outside. Happy, happy, happy!
I also spent a few hours over the weekend working on an old window that was left behind when we moved in…
I knew I wanted to do something with this window but I didn’t know what so it’s been moved around from one storage shed to another waiting for me to be inspired.
As I was looking for a wooden box that I wanted to use in my new ‘office’ space (later to remember that I was already using it in another guest room to store bedding) I came across the window and a lightbulb went off! I was going to clean it up and hang it on wall in the ‘office’/dining room.
It required lots and lots of elbow grease to get the paint off the windows…
and while I was at it, I cleaned up the backside and ran a bead of clear silicone around each pane to help secure them…
There was a pane missing so I tried to cut a piece of glass I had leftover from a water-damaged picture frame but I didn’t have the right tools. So, to avoid a potential disaster I let it be.
For the window frame itself, I simply scraped off any loose paint which exposed the original white paint and, in some spots, the wood itself. I love the character that is left behind!
This wall, which is the only wall in there with drywall, is in need of a coat of paint. I’m hoping that the window will be the focus and not the badly needed-paint job.
Also on this wall is a built-in shelf. This shelf was originally a window but when, what is now the mudroom was enclosed the window was removed and, I’m assuming, this shelf was built…
I’ve not known what to do with this built-in. At one time, I was thinking about removing it to have a solid wall and not have to try and ‘decorate’ around it. But, since this shelf is near my ‘office’ I’ve decided to store some extra Young Living goodies on it…
as well as a few things that remind me of the farm…
I pulled that honey comb off the bottom of one of the medium supers I temporarily had in the large brood box. It’s so cool and the handy work of the bees just amaze me! It’s also a reminder of my ‘why’ for growing my Young Living business as well as my handmade/homemade farm goods business.
Speaking of handmade goods, I was asked by a friend of mine to make a quilted wall-hanging for her dining room. She and I both like traditional quilts so I spent some time searching for just the right pattern. After finding the pattern the next challenge was finding the perfect fabric. I finally found some and, as you saw in my last post, I started cutting it. I finished the quilt-top last Friday. I love it!
Simple nine patches around a double star. Here’s a closer look at the gorgeous colors…
Now to decide how I want to quilt it. I find piecing the top is the easy part – quilting it, not so much. I’m starting to come up with a plan. I’m wanting to keep the quilting fairly traditional and I want it to add to, not take away, from the quilt top.
I did a second one with completely different fabrics which gave the quilt a completely different look…
The sun was shining bright when I took this photo so it’s hard to see the colors but here’s a closeup…
This pattern was so much fun!. I will definitely be making more of them.
I also had some fun with the embroidery machine…
I decided to make a pillow with this one. I want to do another one but will use different colors. SEW fun!
Earlier in the week, we decided it was time to let the chicks out of the grow-out cage during the day…
CountryBoy cut two openings in the cage just large enough so that the littles could go in and out but the big girls couldn’t get in to eat all the food. Cuz, you know, the chicks are getting better food than they get. smirk! We close the openings each night once they are all in safe and sound.
Occasionally, the big girls throw their weight around trying to tell the littles who’s boss but, for the most part, all is well. Fuzzy Foot is really the boss but he just keeps thinking about the fact that he’s got even MORE girls to watch out for! Poor Fuzzy Foot!
The rain has stopped for now so I will end my ramblings.
Thanks to all of you who faithfully read my ramblings and for the sweet comments letting me know that you actually enjoy reading my ramblings. Y’all are too kind!
Dream Valley Farmstead 