Saturday

Beautiful 43 degrees and sunny today.  I was able to dry 3 loads of laundry outside on the dry racks today. First time this winter!  Nothing better than sheets that smell of the outdoors when you lay your head down at night.  I don’t at all envy those in the north east keeping warm by shoveling snow!

I made a run to the thrift store to drop off another box of “stuff” and popped inside to check for tablecloths.  I like to find the large heavy woven kind and cut them down & repurpose for napkins.  I can easily get a dozen out of a good sized cloth. ( For $3.95 it’s a pretty good deal as the same fabric new is $6.00-$8.00 a yard in the fabric store.)

But,what I did find was the dollar bin! 

The bin was full of men’s shirts

Perfect for a Split Rail quilt!  A few had been washed but most are 3X (HUGE) and have that stiff new fabric feel & smell.  I almost felt guilty purchasing perfectly good shirts to cut up but…from the dollar bin they get shipped out of the country in those big rag bundles so…my guilt flew out the window.

I did buy the light green stripe on the far left as I needed one more lighter shade…for $2.95 LOL!  So, when I’m done I’ll have right at $13.00 in a quilt top. 

The other quilt I’m stuck on.  I have all the borders on, the squares *squared up* laid it out,  and I’m not happy with it.  Each block was to float on the red polka dot with about 3 inches between each block. The polka dot really makes the reds pop but it looks blech.  something’s missing yet I don’t know what else to add…

Blocks squared and waiting to be placed

Your in-put is requested!

And, is any one else ticked off at these gas prices?  Ours has been bouncing up and down in price .10-.15 any given day.  Yesterday it was $3.43 & I thought Pfft!  I’m waiting a day or so, it’ll go down again….(because every darn time I fill up it drops .10 a gallon the next day) Well, today I’m at 1/4 tank & it’s up to $3.65!  *Palm to face*….& of course I’m down to one bucket of flour &  1/2 bucket of sugar so a run to town is in order tomorrow.

And a rant…..I’m watching the news this morning and the entire 1/2 hour segment is on the Grammy awards…well let me correct myself.  Not the actual awards but the dress code!  What?  A list of about 15 “rules” such as ..No bare buttocks, no bare breasts, no open lace cut outs…What happened to the days of pride?  Not the pride where you show off all God blessed you with!!  The super bowl half time was another disappointment to me.  I’m not a prude but Beyonce could have done more than just whip & flip her hair around.  A friend of mine made comment with all her crotch thrusting, sighs & grunting all she needed was a pole to dance around.  Gah!  Prime time! Family viewing time people!  How about an appropriate performance?!?!?! I was so disgusted.

I guess I’m a prude.  I have no problem with women showing a bit of cleavage or bare back in the appropriate environment but, prancing on stage in what equals lingerie with a bare butt is a bit much for me.  *Sigh* And this is the type of person young girls think they need to emulate!

Off to make coffee and calm down

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,quilting,repurposing,thrifting

My Bucket List

Whole Wheat flour

Bread flour

Sugar

Rice

 

I finally scored some buckets at Sam”s . 

Well, I should say my friend/sister Jess did for me.  She showed up at the house the other morning with the front 2 stacks of buckets and I was ready to do a happy dance…actually, I think I did a few hops and shuffling steps!

As it happened she was on her way back to Sam’s,,,did I want to ride along?  Well, a chance to share some time in good company, pick up a few bulk items I needed & to ride share? That was a no brainer!  And to make a great morning even better I scored more buckets

Free buckets to repurpose from Sam’s…Now to get them all washed and filled as I’ve been tripping over bulk bags in my kitchen!

They’ve come in handy for compost trips with canning scraps & trimmings & picking beans. The small buckets don’t dump as easily as the large bowls I usually use and fit easily in the rows.

I’ve been keeping a close eye on my potato buckets as they have started browning off. One for some reason was further along in the withering process than the others & it was time to dump it.  On the way across the patio I glanced over and found that darn cat “setting on it”.  Thankfully I caught it just in time but, dumped the bucket just in case.

I quickly checked the other 2 potato buckets & they were ok….. whew!To help protect them from an unwanted visitor, I used some of the scrap tile and put a bit of it on the top..

What a pathetic harvest!  This is it! I was so disappointed. I don’t know what I expected as they are only 5 gallon buckets but, I thought I’d at least have a meal or 2! I’m hoping the other 2 buckets will have been a bit more productive but I’m sure not holding my breath. Next year they will be planted in the garden! 

The green beans have continued to be heavy producers and the filled jars are starting to take over the shelves.  These will be so good added to soups and stews and venison roasts this winter.

I don’t know of any thing much more rewarding & satisfying than jewel toned jars full of preserves cooling on the counter

It’s still dry as a bone out there. 

Some area’s of the garden have weeds I’ve been letting go.  They are proving some mulch in bare areas and those plants are doing much better than the cleared areas. I was worried about them “sealing the water” and moisture but it seems to be helping. I was really short of much materials this season and hope to be better prepared next year.  It seems like every year there is something that trips me up but generally the next I’m better prepared…..But then again, that’s life isn’t it? 

We live and hopefully learn.

Have a wonderful day

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,gardening,potato buckets,repurposing,preserving

Repurposing An Old Favorite

I could easily become a hoarder. 

We save & hold onto just about everything we think could be repurposed, and most of the time those “items” come in handy for one project or another.

Well, the past few weeks I’ve been on a “de-crap-ify binge.

. This table cloth was my all time favorite.  It was the first new purchase I’d made in years of something not a need but a want… something frivolous.

I love color, bold color and this tablecloth just shouted out to me at the time. 

I’d had it for about 10 years and it held up through many a family meal.  Somehow it got the hole, If I remember correctly I had a candle overflow and trying to clean it the hole appeared.

.

  So its sat in the cabinet for about 5 more years unused.   I just  wasn’t ready to give it up….The rest of the fabric was great, tightly woven  but, that hole was smack dab in the open, in an odd spot which couldn’t be covered by a runner or placemat. This table cloth happened to be the next “it”.    Find a purpose for “it” or clean it out.    NNNNNNNOOOOOO!!!! 

Well, I ‘d just had a discussion with Mr. Fix-It that paper napkins were the last paper product we used. (Other than toilet tissue and I’m not ready for family cloth) & I had plenty of cotton fabric down stairs to sew up some napkins in the very near future. If not soon-ish it would be a fall project after the garden was done

Looking at that table cloth and trying to justify keeping it I had a “Light bulb moment” & grabbed the scissors, started cutting right then and there.

I ended up with 15 17inch napkins which I’m slowly getting hemmed a few a day as I have some down time.

It’s a win-win in my mind, paperless and repurposing what we have.

We used a few of them that evening at supper and Mr. Fix-It just grinned at the pop of color near his plate

Quick, easy & I get to keep an old favorite

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,repurposing,sewing

 

Projaholics…We’re Baaaaack!

A 5 year project is nearly at an end.  We originally started with building a garage.  When we bought the house it had a carport….and hubby waited years till we could build one. 

Well, 2 months after the garage was built we found there was a bunch of air pockets in the floor, and in the end they ripped it out and re-poured it

. Which left us with 22 yards of concrete slabs in our front yard which, we called “yard art”.  With that we built a courtyard/patio 40ft long between the house and garage which ends with the 6ft wall you see in the photo.

Because, What else would we do with it!

So, for the past few years we’ve had a mini mountain of rubble (as in solid, it ain’t going no where pile of concrete) that we would rabbit up and down to get to the back property. We needed steps.

  We’d looked at various plans and designs for steps but everything was just to formal for us.  Backed up to the wooded area, we wanted something that would blend into the surroundings.  We’d visited quite a few quarry’s looking at rocks but they were pricy to say the least.  So we started stashing and saving.  It seemed crazy to us to pay so much for rock to finish a project that (other than the garage) was less than $500.00!

Then a few weeks after one of our quarry visits, Larry got a call saying (one we visited a few times) the company was going out of business…come get which ever rock we wanted….free!. SCORE!!!

Each stone is 6-8 inches thick and at least 4 ft. across and 300-500 lbs.…we wanted nice wide steps.  We have folks of all ages in and out here at our house and well, we’re no spring chickens ourselves any more. 

We wanted steps wide and safe for all ages.

The stones have sat in back of the house for a few years while we built the addition & all the while we’ve discussed what we wanted to do/could do with them

Last night Larry came home and said “wanna play with rocks”?  Ahhh!  Be still my beating heart!

Prep work and planning done was done last night so this morning at 7:30 we started in with overcast skies that thankfully stayed to shade us all day.

I’m pretty sure our family thinks we’re nuts.

I know they think we’re weird!

2 popped in to “see what we were up to this time”

FYI….Crowbars break under 500 lb. stones.   Just a fact I thought I’d share..but you need them to arm-strong the stones

So do shovels…I think I’ll paint it and use it for yard art of some kind

We used Big Red to place the stones in general locations

Moving those suckers manually 4-8 ft. up the hill was not an option.

I learned all kinds of new things .  How to drive the tractor, maneuvering stones pushing them into place with the blade

Isaiah has been a part of this entire project for the past 5 yrs.  He said he was going to be here to help finish it & boy was he was a major help today

The last stone.  We weren’t sure there was enough energy in us to finish but, by 5pm we were done!

Isaiah hosed off the gravel

We are done!

The stones are brown and blue, I wish I could capture the colors.

Supper was a big salad cause that’s all we had the energy for…as in energy to chew.

Fire in the fire pit with s’mores for dessert.

Our next project?

I think I’d like it to be something that does not involve rocks!!

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,projaholics,repurposing,yardart
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Bulk Storage Using What You Have

We are rice eaters. When we realized a 50 lb. bag was pretty close to the price of 2 –2lb  bags well I was all over that.  But only when when we opened that BIG bag did I remember we’d have to store the remainder.

**********Now, let me throw out a disclaimer here about plastic and what is or, may not be proper storage….I was using what I had on hand and it’s worked for years for us.

Popcorn tins.  You know the holiday tins you never know what to do with once they are empty…but don’t want to throw away cause I might need them for something?

Well, your something has arrived in a 50 lb. bag! 

Wash and thoroughly dry your tins.  I let mine air for a few hours after this as the metal always retains a touch of moisture & you don’t want the damp or the rust that will develop if that moisture is left behind.  Take my word for it, it happens.

Let’s pretend that spill on the side of the can isn’t there ok?

I line my dry tins with *****Note disclaimer above******** a small trash bag. Fill the bag with rice, twist the top and cover with the lid. We’ve stored rice this way for over 10 years and it’s worked well for us.   It takes just over 3 large popcorn tins to store a 50lb bag, It works out perfect with the bit left over in a container accessible in my panty.  when my container is low I just refill it from one of the tins.

A few facts we learned about rice I thought I’d share.

1.  You will spill a bit when opening a 50 lb. bag…. no matter how careful you try to be.

2.  Rice on bare feet hurts

3.  When sweeping up spills, a few of those suckers will hide very well and you will find them later…with bare feet

4.  Rice loves carpet.  It digs deep and hangs on.

Have a great tomorrow

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,food storage,using what you have,repurposing