Saturday, October 10
The rain arrived shortly after we got up this morning and it has been raining ever since. It’s a nice steady rain which is good. The ground has a chance to absorb it rather than just run off into the creeks and rivers.
Ever so subtlety the leaves are changing. Give it another week and we should be feasting our eyes on all the colors of Fall.
The arrival of the rain as predicted is a good thing. Not only were we in need of some rain but it provided the opportunity I needed to reclaim my craft room. Here’s a reminder of what I started with this morning…
Here it is after major dusting and rearranging…
I mainly concentrated on the table and work surface and the storage cubbies. I started by moving the sewing machines around which opened up the large table which is now available for cutting, crafting, scrapbooking, weaving, or whatever. I also decided to put my photo boxes at the end of the large table. Doing so freed up four storage cubbies as well as being easily accessible should the day ever arise when I want to do some scrapbooking. I am SO behind and probably wouldn’t remember much of the event I was scrapbooking about but at least the photos would be in an album. Hopefully this winter I will feel motivated to try and catch up.
Speaking of storage cubbies, here’s a reminder of how they looked this morning…
Several hours later here is what they look like now…
Simply moving the photo boxes allowed me to move all the stuff piled on the chair into one of the cubbies. I also snagged some containers from around the house to corral ribbons, lace, and brushes & dye for lace.
Once I got started everything seemed to fall into place especially after I moved the sewing machines around. I was hoping that would happen but sometimes just getting started is the biggest hurdle.
Now that I could find things and had room to work I went ahead and hemmed a pair of pants that had been hanging on the chair for probably a year or so. I’m not great at hemming but I now have a nice pair of black linen pants to wear and because it’s black one will never notice the hem. yay! And now that my craft room is functional again I’m pondering what I should work on. I’m leaning towards a rag quilt using up scrap fabric but the possibilities are endless!
While I was cleaning and rearranging the craft room I was also doing laundry. I must say I got a workout today going up and down the stairs. win-win!
And, while I had my camera out I snapped a photo of the flowers I picked yesterday…
Some are from my garden and some are weeds but I like how it turned out. So does CountryBoy.
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Farm news: 18 eggs
Sunday, October 11
We enjoyed a nice relaxing morning on this rainy Sunday. There was nothing that had to be done before church which was so nice. We even got home from church in plenty of time for me to get changed. And work itself was nice and easy. I even had plenty of time to treat a mess of sheets that had stains on them, get them washed and ironed. It’s now after 5 p.m. and we’re waiting on our guests to arrive.
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Farm news: 16 eggs. Not good girls, not good.
Monday, October 12
Another crazy Monday in the books. Oh, and Happy Columbus day. Who knew? I found out this morning only because I went to the post office to mail something a recent guest had left behind and it was closed. sigh. I went on in to work and didn’t come up for air until 12:30 when I stopped to take a lunch break. Last minute political ads, last minute legal ads, phone calls, double & triple checking emails and insertion orders – it was truly crazy. All I have to say is that I will be so, SO glad when the election is over. SO glad, in more ways than one.
Speaking of guests, there are only five nights available for this month – one night this week, one night next week and three nights the last week. All the other nights have been booked. This will be our best month yet. Crazy!
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I’ve been crocheting a few rows of the baby blanket each day. I’ve used up three skeins already and am almost finished with the fourth. Five more to go and then it’s on to the border.
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Farm news: 23 eggs
Tuesday, October 13
The work day was a vast improvement from yesterday. I stayed busy but everything went smooth and we had the OK from the printer by 1:15. I even managed to get a jump start on next week’s ad schedule which is always a good thing. I stopped by Save-a-Lot on my way to pick up a head of cabbage for tonight’s supper (Taco Tuesday only it was fish tacos with shredded cabbage, carrots and diced jalapeños, and Cilantro Lime dressing, yum!) and grabbed a banana bunch on my way out. I got home in time to actually meet tonight’s guests. There are some days that I don’t get to even meet the guests but thankfully CountryBoy is here to greet them and to keep the cabin going.
Speaking of the cabin, we now have only four nights available this month. This week it’s been all one-nighters and this weekend is our first return guests. Crazy I tell ya! But good.
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As of late my shoulders have been tense and very bothersome. I carry the weight of my world on my shoulders and quite frequently I have to remind myself to relax them and to just relax period. I’m not really sure why I’m feeling tense because I don’t feel like I’m stressed out or that I’m overly-dwelling on any one particular issue. My only guess is that right now all of my jobs and the cabin are particularly busy this month and when I don’t get as much down time as my body & brain needs I think it catches up with me. Thank goodness for Young Living’s Deep Relief roll-on. I roll it on my shoulders and rub it in before bed. I also remind myself to relax and between the two I feel relief within minutes.
This beautiful time of year and this bothersome tenseness has me pondering work versus doing what I love. I ponder this quite often throughout the year but it’s during the exceptionally beautiful months of Fall and Spring that I am really drawn towards doing what I love. I work hard because there are many things and projects that we would like to have done around the farm and by me continuing to work both jobs we have a little extra money every now and then to get a few of them done. I’m thinking about doing a ‘House & Farm walk’ where I walk the house and then around the farm and jot down all the projects we have talked about doing. For example, in the ‘house walk’ section I would write down ‘renovate the downstairs bathroom’ and for the ‘farm walk’ examples would be ‘new pond’ or ‘downstairs bedroom addition’. Of course, there would be quick fix items on those lists as well but right now all these projects and dreams are floating around my head and all I can think about is that I’ll be working for a really long time. I think by writing them down and being able to cross them off as they get done I will be encouraged to keep on keeping on.
Then there are outside influences of people that are doing what they love and still surviving. But when you stop to think about it, how many people are actually able to do what they love, whatever that may be, and survive financially? Not many I would venture to say. If I did only what I loved, I believe we would survive but we wouldn’t be able to do the many projects that need to be done or that we would simply like to have done. We would just be surviving. Nonetheless, I am a dreamer and a planner so my plan is to continue to work both jobs, get projects done but… I am also dreaming about the day when I can do what I love and still be able to, one day, bring in some revenue from it. What is it I love? I enjoy doing lots of crafty things but taking photos and capturing the beauty of nature is something that I love doing. That being said, this afternoon I took a step towards that day – I took some extra money I had saved up and bought a drone!!! Y’all know how I love the misty mountains and I have dreamed of taking pictures and even videos of them every time I walk out my door and see the mist floating over mountains. Oh, and mixed with the colorful leaves of Fall – breathtaking! It arrives Saturday. I can’t wait! I’m anxious to become a decent drone pilot and to be able to share some of the beauty I see around me with y’all. I also plan on taking, no make that, MAKING more time to get outside and take pictures. There are other aspects of photography that I need to become more proficient at and learn but it’s a start. I also have no idea where this little step will lead but if you never take that first step then you’ll never know, so I’ve taken that exciting first step and time will tell where it will take me.
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Speaking of farm projects, the neighbor came by and discussed the pond with CountryBoy. He was pulling out of the driveway as I was checking the mail when I came home from work. It will be a few weeks before the dozer will be available. Meanwhile, we are still going to get the quote on Saturday from the other company and we’ll go from there. At any rate, I’m glad he finally came by. Maybe I can cross the new pond off the list before it’s even on there, ha!
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Farm news: 21 eggs
Dream Valley Farmstead 