Through the Rambles

I've got writer's block, I think. I simply cannot wrap my mind around anything interesting to say. So I've stayed away for awhile, thinking I'd have some inspiration. But, not so much.

So, I'll ramble. Are you okay to take a spin inside my head for a minute? Buckle up. It might get bumpy.

Last week I bought more material for yet another quilt. Please don't remind me of how many I have started. Or that I was supposed to give Josh's his in December. These will be fun! I'm telling myself that. Psyching myself up. The first one is a collage. Of me. As mom & grandma. Do you think I'm getting ahead of myself, since I have no grandchildren yet? Me neither! Preparation is the key! Or at least that is what Colonel Hathi, the elephant on Jungle Book, said, but I digress. So here are the fabrics that will go into my log cabin quilt:



I've got all of the material cut into strips. All 2 1/2" wide, about 18" long. I hope it works. If not, I'll know better for next time, eh?!

Secondly. I've been thinking a LOT about gardening. I've done very little about it, but I've thought about it a lot! I need to go buy my transplants from the nursery. I know, I know, I could have saved money by planting my own. But this year has been too crazy for me to beat myself up over should'ves. And I'll plant stuff that my family eats. I'd love to experiment...but maybe next year. And I may or may not let the ball drop on planting heirloom seeds that I would then save seed from for next year. Again, life is just crazy. I'll do what I can.

Next: I want to move. My real life friends are rolling their eyes and laughing, because moving has been my preoccupation for the past...well, since I moved here. This old house on 1/3 acre was supposed to be temporary. It was supposed to serve as a stop-over to a house with more land. Six years later.... I'm still looking. I love my house. I do! Along with all of the problems it has, it is also charming. Old houses: you gotta love'em. And if I could take it along to a place with an acre (or 2 or 10 or 100!) I would. It isn't the house I've outgrown, it's the land. So, I'm looking again. But I'm a tightwad. And even though house prices have dropped, they ballooned for a couple of years first, know what I mean? So the prices are still high.

And my animals are definitely on my mind! I need to build a chicken coop. A real one. Not just a couple of dog houses. And I need to totally enclose the thing. Ever seen Chicken Run? Those are my chickens! Seriously. They plan ways of escape. Though I have no intentions of changing my name to Tweedy and baking them into pies, they want to run away from home anyway. So those hens need Alcatraz-like security. And *I* (and hopefully my husband..Steve, will ya lend me a hand?) will be building the prison for them. Or a hotel, if you prefer that imagery.

And the goats are a pain. I love'em, but *man* are they pains! They are harder than chickens! And stronger too. Nina broke the tie-out yesterday. Good thing they are friendly, because she came right up to me and let me put her back into her pen. We've had some that take one look at us and run. As fast and as hard as they can. These are excellent goats by comparison!



And then there is the never-ending housework: laundry, dishes, toilets. Those things never stay clean for long, do they?!

And Michael. Last night Michael and I were going to pick up Emily from dance and we were going to take Meg (our cute little doggy) with us, since she was sad Steve hadn't taken her on a walk too. As I was walking out the door, in ran a cat that isn't litter box trained, so I tried to find and remove her before I left. I left Michael and Meg in the front yard and told Michael to "get the leash". I meant to hold onto Meg, but when I came back out, there was Michael..with the leash. Only the leash. Meg? Gone. Ran off. Yep, he'd let her off the leash. "Here, Mom" he said, handing me the leash. Thanks, Mike. We found Meg a few minutes later. I'm glad Michael is learning to follow directions. Hopefully he'll learn not to be so literal, too.

So that is my life. Hope you held on tight. Some of those turns in my ramblings were pretty sharp!

See ya soon!