Catching Up

Here it is, another Monday.  Since I don’t have a 9 to 5 job I don’t mind Mondays.  It’s just another day.

Speaking of job, it’s going very well and I really enjoy it.  Our two days of 40+ people for lunch last week went fairly smooth.  Not bad for just a handful of girls prepping, cooking, plating, serving, waiting and cleaning up.  We had a couple hiccups the first day but we got through them and everything worked out.  The second day – smooth as buttah!  And, with fewer staff and a few more guests.  LOVE working with people who have an amazing work ethic!

I spent the following day relaxing.

I did a little bit of sewing…

These Soup Bowl Cozy’s took some time to accumulate all the necessary stuff to start making them.  You can set a microwaveable bowl in them filled with whatever you want to heat up and pop them in the microwave.  In order to do that, though, these cozy’s need to be made with 100% cotton everything.  Cotton fabric, cotton thread and cotton batting.  Do you know how hard it is to find cotton thread these days?  And what is labeled as cotton batting is more than likely an 80/20 blend of cotton and polyester.  That’s what I had on hand and thought was all cotton.  Nope!  Thank goodness the little fabric shop down the road had the batting I needed.  Unfortunately, they were out of 100% cotton thread but I found some at Hobby Lobby the next day.  Whew!

Even though we do not have a microwave I wanted to make them as if they would end up in a microwave cuz, ya just never know!  What if they’re handed down and someone assumes they can be put in the microwave?  Yea, better to be safe than sorry!

Anyway, I made three different sizes.  The original pattern ended up being too large for my bowls.  The second size was a tad too small and finally, the third one was just right.  Kinda sounds like a nursery rhyme!

I also did some baking…

It’s a Texas Sheet Cake only it’s made in a skillet.  Anything with chocolate AND made in a skillet HAS to be good, right?!  And, it was!  This was a Pinterest win!

I also enjoyed the rain we got that day.  Some very much needed rain indeed!

Our gardens were very happy!

Before the rain started I decided to remove the reducer from the entrance to the beehive.

The colony is well established now so our thought was to remove the reducer to help with air flow during the hot summer months.  It seems to be working.

On my way to the hive I noticed that many of the grape clusters were ready…

Although we didn’t get a whole lot this year it’s a LOT more than we got last year.  For a young grapevine I’m pretty happy with the results…

Another thing we’re extremely happy about…

is a completely FULL wood shed this year!!!  Yay!

There is still a lot of wood to be had where that came from.  We just need to decide where to store it.

Before I went to work Saturday evening our neighbor called to tell CountryBoy about a yard sale just around the corner or on the other side of the mountain across from us, if you will.  He spotted a sickle mower and knew that we were looking for one.  The price was reasonable so CountryBoy went over there and paid for it before I had to leave.

He then drove the tractor over there to pick it up.

It’s old and hasn’t been used in a while but it’s supposed to work.  We just need to figure out the best way to maneuver it while on the tractor since it’s not hydraulic and we need to get a part for it.

On a sad note, one of the front tractor tires was found flat today…

sigh.  Now we have to have it fixed.  I have no idea the cost of repairing or replacing a tractor tire.  Happy about the sickle mower and bummed about the tire.  It’s ALWAYS something.

We’ve been selling some extra tomatoes at the market but these tomatoes were ripe yesterday…

And when they’re ripe, they’re ripe!  They won’t wait until market day, ha!  So, although I like to spend Sunday’s relaxing with minimal farm chores I spent the afternoon putting up these beauties!

I ended up with four quart jars and three pint jars of crushed tomatoes.  It will be nice to add them to some soup or stew this winter!

I’m off to do some more relaxing and doing some cross-stitching this afternoon.  I am really close to finishing up a piece I’ve been working on for over a year.  It’s time to GET IT DONE!

Till next time!